Waimea Brands Blog

There’s nothing like a busy week in the lead up to Christmas.  Our Christmas present for the winery this year has been 4 new 60,000 litre tanks.

On Monday and Tuesday prior to Christmas, the boys (Ben and Trev) spent the day with a 70 tonne crane manoeuvring the tanks into position in our ‘tank farm’.  The tanks look impressive enough but in the air with the huge crane it looks amazing.  The photos didn’t really do it justice but I tried to get some all the same.

These tanks are double skinned and will be refrigerated to hold our precious Sauvignon Blanc.  We now have capacity in the winery to house almost 1.9 million litres of wine and juice – plus our barrels.  Crown Sheetmetal in Invercargill are the clever makers of these tanks.  Once they are complete, they are loaded onto a huge truck and transported up the South Island to us.

In the ‘old days’, Ben used to build Waimea’s tanks.   He trained as an engineer upon leaving school and worked for a local firm for a number of years, building tanks and other winery equipment in the weekends.  He later trained in viticulture and came to work at Waimea full time as Viticulturist and for the last 18 months has also been our General Manager.  Time these days doesn’t permit to get out and work with metal so we’ve got a couple of really good local chaps who come in when needed.

Harry our on-site engineer has been busy helping to secure the tanks to the ground and is now crafting some more walkways so the crew can get about and do their high work safely come vintage.

We like technology here at Waimea.  Things that might just make life a wee bit easier.  Or add a new dimension to our products.  Things that really add to our true belief in sustainability.  It all starts right from in the vineyard, before the fruit has even formed on the vines and this year we’ve got ourselves a new toy.

Introducing the Spraypro R-Series – as they say it’s ‘a revolution in spray technology’.

We have 140 hectares of grape vines to keep on top of these days and it’s a bit of a mission to work through them to schedule, always mindful of the weather – wind/rain etc.  A cycle way has also recently been put smack bang through the middle of our working property so we were even more mindful of our impact on the environment and our community.

With our recently delivered machine, the spray that doesn’t deposit on foliage is recycled into the tank and reused.  On our very first spray we saved over 70% chemical which meant we went a lot further on a tank of spray saving stopping time, refilling, a lot of chemical loss to the environment and cost.

Spray-drift is far less of a concern to us now – we have the ability to spray in increased wind conditions if necessary and can complete our programme in a shorter cycle.

At the same time we bit the bullet and replaced our weedsprayer with a snappy wee machine that essentially does the same.  It has shrouds which protects the vine from any damage or burn from the weedspray.  This in turn saves on consumption and means we can spray in less-favourable conditions if necessary.

Spraying is normally our chap Greg’s task but he is currently on leave and recovering from a wee op.  Nathan has jumped in the saddle in the meantime and I caught him out in the vineyard a couple of days ago applying a cover spray and some smelly fish so took a quick picture.

Greg came in for a visit yesterday and couldn’t resist carefully hopping in and having a look at the bells and whistles (don’t tell Rose!).  With a hydraulic drive system needing no PTO shaft it’ll make things a wee bit easier for him when he is back on deck.

Just recently, Ben spent an afternoon out in the vineyard with a truck deck loaded up with small wooden ‘houses’.  He was on a mission to put up some owl and falcon stations after talking to local man Edward Bongers, and had accepted delivery of 7 of the pre-made dwellings.

Now, Ben is a bit of a kiwi bloke (well, a lot of a kiwi bloke really – I’m allowed to say it, I’m his wife!) but every now and then we get to see his soft side.  Last year it was a hawk which injured its wing and unfortunately had to be euthanized by the SPCA.  This year, it’s come in the form of a Little Brown Owl.

We’ve had our very own ‘Mr Owl’ this year (named by Ben and Martin) who has hung out in an old tree stump just down from the winery and restaurant.  We regularly saw him early mornings and in the evening and the girls in the office would often overhear Martin or Ben ask one another if they’d seen ‘Mr Owl’ lately.  We’ve seen him being a bit of a dare devil too, scaring the life out of Fiona by flying full tilt into the front office window (Fi screamed – loudly – just for the record!).  He fair shook the building, eventually shook his own head and picked himself up off the deck to fly back home – where all good owls should be during the day.

One of our neighbours had obviously noticed him too, hence the introduction of the bird houses – there are two types.  One type is for the owl and another type is for falcons which are great birds to have on and around your vineyard due to their amazing hunting capabilities.  Don’t know quite how they know whose home is whose but we understand that they work it out. 

So now Ben has placed these homes around various Waimea vineyards and we are hoping to soon see them filled with the correct species.  

Behaviour and ecology of the Little Brown Owl
This is a sedentary species which is found in open country such as mixed farmland and parkland. It takes prey such as insects, earthworms, amphibians, but also small birds and mammals. It can attack birds of considerable size like game birds. It is partly diurnal and often perches boldly and prominently during the day.^[2]

It becomes more vocal in nights as the breeding season approaches. Nest location varies based on the habitat, nests being found in holes in trees, rocks, cliffs, river banks, walls, buildings etc.^[2] It lays 3-5 eggs which are incubated by the female for 28–29 days, with a further 26 days to fledging. Little Owls will also nest in buildings, both abandoned and those fitted with custom owl nest boxes. If living in an area with a large amount of human activity, Little Owls may grow used to man and will remain on their perch, often in full view, while humans are around.

Falcons for Grapes programme
In 2005 funding was given by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry towards a programme that uses the falcons to control birds that damage grapes and act as pests in vineyards as well as monitoring the birds and establishing a breeding population in the vicinity of the Marlborough wine region.^[6] Initially, four falcons were relocated to the vineyards from the surrounding hills. After the release of a further 15 birds breeding began to occur – the first time it is thought to have happened since land clearance 150 years ago. A major ongoing threat to the birds is electrocution on electricity distribution transformers with a fifth of the birds killed in this manner.^[7][8]

Poetry:  — 

The Owl and the Pussy-cat

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat.
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up at the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
‘O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!’

Pussy said to the Owl,’You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long have we tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?’
They sailed away for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

‘Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?’ Said the Piggy, ‘I will.’
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

 —  Edward Lear

Waimea Sauvignon Blanc 2010 has been selected as the only Nelson Sauvignon Blanc to be poured at the Cloud during the RWC Wine and Food demonstrations. Our award-winning Sauvignon will be poured by a range of chefs alongside dishes such as: 

On the Akl waterfront from 13^th sept to 23^rd Oct, 11am to 6pm.

We are very proud and delighted to launch our latest family addition.  Light on calories, but not light on flavour, Waimea Estates has released the Nelson region’s first low alcohol Sauvignon Blanc.  100% naturally produced by gentle persuasion in our own certified sustainable vineyards to achieve ripe fruit flavours at lower sugar levels.

Waimea has recognised the growing consumer interest and an awareness of alcohol levels, busy lifestyles and responsibility around the enjoyment of alcohol.  The result is a 30% lower-alcohol and 30% lower-calorie premium wine that targets health-conscious consumers.

“To create an 8% alcohol wine naturally through the vineyard and winery without using artificial manipulation has been quite challenging,” says Ben Bolitho, Waimea’s GM and Viticulturist.  “The aim has been to achieve an explosive, fruity but balanced, not overly acidic wine with great texture and body.  We set about selecting a vineyard parcel that always produces ripe flavours earlier than our other blocks.  We trialled many different canopy management techniques throughout the rows – all targeted at producing physiological ripeness at lower sugar levels than we have been able to achieve before – therefore producing a less alcoholic fresher styled wine.”

Waimea’s winemaker Trudy Sheild is delighted that her team was able to achieve this wine style without resorting to the industrial machines that some wineries used to strip alcohol from finished wines to lower the alcohol levels.  “We have been able to develop ripe fruit flavours at lower sugar levels.  It has this gorgeous pungent lemon thyme aroma and a palate reminiscent of homemade lemonade!” she enthused.  “Many low alcohol wines lack fruit intensity and concentration, so I’m very pleased with our version – and it’s suitable for Vegan and Vegetarian wine drinkers as well, so that’s a real plus!”.

Typical NZ retail price for our 2011 naturally low alcohol Sauvignon Blanc is $19.

**If you wish to purchase our 2011 naturally low alcohol Sauvignon Blanc, please email office@waimeaestates.co.nz.  It will also be available in our online web store shortly.

Harvest

The 2010-2011 summer had near-record warm temperatures averaging at least 1.2°C above average for the Nelson region. More northwest winds than normal contributed to the warm temperatures and these provided a few deluges that kept both vineyard and winery staff on their toes.

These warm temperatures, carefully chosen vines and some early fruit exposure in the vineyard meant that fruit for this wine was harvested from the 1^st of March, some two weeks earlier than the rest of our Sauvignon Blanc. Three different parcels were used for the wine, each quite different from the other, each adding character to the final wine.

Winemaking

Each parcel of fruit was hand picked, then destemmed and only gently pressed once at the winery. An early press cut was used to minimise green phenolics. The juice was then settled for three days to achieve low solids prior to ferment. Ferment was carried out at low temperatures, and with yeast strains chosen for their ability to maintain and enhance fruit characters. Once ferment was complete (some wines stopped to maintain a little sugar), the components were blended and the wine finished for our early bottling on the 1st of August.

Technical data

Alcohol:                      8%
Residual sugar:         9.3 g/L
pH:                              3.17   
Titratable acidity:    7.65   

Tasting note

This wine is lighter on calories than our standard Sauvignon Blanc but still has plenty of character. Aromas of lemon thyme and basil leap from the glass, the palate is juicy and reminiscent of homemade lemonade laced with lime zest. A fine minerality typical of fruit from the plains, runs throughout the wine and creates a lingering finish. A lighter option for lunchtime dinning or aperitif, but still well suited to those dishes you would traditionally team Sauvignon Blanc with.