Birth of a Wine

Industry Blues not for Murdoch James

2011-12-14T17:20:00.000+13:00

In the past 2 years, the New Zealand wine industry took a hammering from low priced competition, high exchange rates, the global financial crisis, over-production, high gearing, and banks not making credit available (interestingly these were the same banks that 4 or 5 years ago were throwing money at vineyards, but that's banks for you). The situation led to commercial practices (like bulk wine sales) that had a negative industry wide impact. Now the industry has to try to reverse the consequences of this 'perfect storm'.

Excavations for new winery underway

While not specifically structured to address the concerns raised above, a recent strategic review conducted for the wine industry by a firm of consultants, did touch on some of the points. Where they did, the review's observations on market potential and market development were not exactly earth-shattering.

It is difficult to find the detail in the midst of all the consulting jargon, but one observation was that China is a desirable market for New Zealand wineries wanting to grow their exports. Paying someone to tell us that China has big potential for NZ wine sales is not exactly a big return on the investment. The important point is that if wineries are just discovered Asia now, they have missed the boat; and late-comers will find it hard to make up lost ground.

That is why Murdoch James has not been sitting back and waiting. We have been travelling in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and China for the last 3 years, and the results justify all the effort. We will sell more wine in China in the month of February 2012 than our full year's output just 3 years ago. And through new ownership, Murdoch James has recapitalised to escape the financial problems holding back other wineries from participating in the huge growth of wine sales in China.

The foundation trenches for the concrete
footings are huge

The consequences are clear if you call by the vineyard. As mentioned in a previous posting, we have already spent a great deal on expanding the Cellar Door and on landscaping. Now we have commenced our winery expansion project. As the images show, it will increase the footprint of the winery significantly - about 3 times larger actually. This will enable us to process the much larger quantities we need for our new customers in Asia.

A mountain of steel reinforcing should
ensure no earthquake risks

And it also equips us well for our existing buyers in Australia, USA and UK, because this expansion is not just about processing more quantity, it is also about investing in the equipment and technology to take a huge step up in quality.

If you are ever nearby, come and check out what we are up to. We would be pleased to show you around!

2011-11-25T13:35:00.001+13:00

Last Sunday, 20th of November celebrated 20 years of Toast Martinborough.

It was a beautiful day with over 11,500 people sharing good food, wine and music with the region's wineries.

A wonderful day was had by all at our Toast Martinborough site this year. The crowd was huge and well behaved, the music great, and the food from Guten Apetit Catering was fantastic.

Sadly at other locations a small minority spoiled the day for some, through over-indulgence. That we had none of that on our site shows just how well organised it was. A lot of the credit for the organisation of a very professionally run site must go to Nicola, a valued member of the Murdoch James team. And what better way to show our appreciation than with flowers!!!

We had several acts on stage, including the Thomas Oliver Band and Ladi6, and estimate over 50% of the total crowd joined us for at least part of the day. Like all festivals we had the crowd come in waves and at times the challenge was being able to serve them all in a timely manner. We were very quiet in the morning, when the crowd followed tradition, by starting at TK, then very busy mid-afternoon, then quiet again late afternoon as the festival goes moved on to other wineries to close out the day. At the busy times, Nicola's systems played their part.

It is hard to spell out in words what a terrific day Toast Martinborough is; the pictures tell a better story. Even better still, come next year, and see for yourself. But you have to be quick - tickets can sell out in less than half an hour after release!!

And for those folk who gave us feedback on what we could do better next year, rest assured we have taken the comments aboard.

They tell me it will look good when finished!

2011-11-14T11:43:00.008+13:00

New Grand Entrance (to be)

Many of you have asked for more information on what we are doing with building extensions and landscaping.

There are quite a few things under way. The tasting room is being extended to cater for the increasing number of visitor who join us for tastings or the incredibly popular 'Grape to Glass'tour. As part of that building project we are also constructing a new grand entrance, so that the first impressions when folk drive up to the winery is both welcoming and attractive. There is also a big deck (almost finished) being built outside the tasting room so tasters can relax and taste in a pleasant location. We will equip the deck with comfortable tables and chairs so tasters can sit and order a platter to enjoys as they do their tasting. With a weather forecast of a long, hot summer to come, I am sure the deck will get plenty of use.

New Steps Up Cliff

Then there is a big project of landscaping down the cliff in front of the restaurant. We are building rock retaining walls, steps, planting new shrubs, building a bridge - the list goes on. The stairs down the cliff are going to look simply stunning: huge cut macrocarpa timbers, in-filled with exposed aggregate, and lit at night. The bridge across the creek will make the lower vineyard area an even more attractive location for weddings and events.

At present the site looks like a construction zone, and as wedding season is almost upon us I am as nervous as our brides that it all be finished on time. I am assured by our builders and landscapers that it will be, but no rain please weather gods!

Amazing happenings at Murdoch James Estate

2011-11-12T14:10:00.001+13:00

There are exciting times ahead at Murdoch James Estate.

New stairway down cliff under construction

We have recently purchased an adjoinging vineyard which now takes us up to 38 hectares of planted vines, and are building a new winery. Plus we are undertaking a major landscaping project to make the site look even more appealing to visitors. We have the goal of becoming New Zealand's best winery experience when people visit for our restaurant, tours or just for wine tasting. There is a big new deck going in, the cliff in front of the restaurant is being terraced and the entrance drive has been upgraded.

I can hear a few of you thinking "What on earth is Roger and the team at Murdoch James doing? There is a lot of unsold wine in the world, prices are low and most wineries are tightening their belts at present!"

New rock wall and fence at entrance

There are two parts to the answer. Firstly, we are expanding because have worked hard on exports and are now shipping ever increasing quantities of wine overeas, including to China where we have excellent contacts through our new owners.

And secondly, because our tours and restaurant are now often fully booked as word-of-mouth spreads the news on just how good an experience it is to visit Murdoch James Estate and to join with us as we share our love of food, people and wine.

If you live nearby and have not visited in a while, it is time you did - come and see what we are up too. Think about trying one of our 'Grape to Glass' tours for some quality time with us.

'Moby Dick'

2011-09-25T12:28:00.001+13:00

At Murdoch James Estate, we have one of the oldest if not the oldest, balloon presses in NewZealand. It is a Wilmes, made in Germany, and dates from the late 1950's we believe.This is not one of your modern computer controlled, hands-off, "press'start' and come back later" wine presses. Our press needs an operator tobe in attendance at all times to care of its every need. One well-known localblogger referred to it as 'Moby Dick'; a big presence, imposing, round andlong, and somewhat daunting. I must admit, it certainly looks a lot like thegreat white whale. The name stuck and all our team now think of this wonderfulmachine by that name.

But now 'Moby Dick' (thanks for the name to both Jaredand Herman) is in serious trouble. The gearing between the electric motor andthe press cylinder has broken and parts to fix it are not able to be found.Yet we are not giving up! We have started a global search for the parts.

But, like Thomas the Tank Engine, where Thomas's steam power wasunder threat from upstart diesel locomotives, if we cannot revive Moby he mayhave to be sold as scrap. And that would be a tragedy. Like Thomas, we want Moby to fightback too, and prove his worth. He has a place beside our new press to provide back-up. We want to save him and continue to use histalents where we can. Moby is gentle to the grapes whenpressing, and as we have to be there all the time to tend to his needs, we cansee exactly what he is up to and encourage the very best from him.

As to how can you help? Well, we hear every day about the power ofsocial media to galvanise support for important causes. And, what moreimportant cause than saving Moby from the 'harpoons' of the scrap metalmerchants. If you know of anyone who might be able to help let us know. We will fly theparts in from anywhere in the world if they are in good condition.

Maybe you know of a relation to Moby who is past restoration,but could become a part donor and keep Moby alive for future generations? Weare going to post on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites to makesure we make every effort to save him, so pass the message on if you aremotivated to do so. If you can help, call us at Murdoch James Estate (+646 3069165) or e-mail me at info@murdoch-james.co.nz. We would love to hear from you!

Not all just hard work!

2011-08-06T17:37:00.000+12:00

A few months ago, Nicola asked me if I would help Lynn (who runs our cellar door facility at the vineyard), with a Women's Expo in Palmerston North. What a chore I thought. Until I got there. I was one of only a few men in a room of hundreds of women. I apologise if it sounds a bit stereotypical but I think a lot of guys would have swapped places with me!

And it was a fascinating Expo too. The stands ranged from the expected (clothing, jewelry, food & wine) through to the less common (alternative healing, investing, dance exercise, miniatures and creative arts).

Recent research has shown that women are now the dominant purchasers of wine in NZ for home consumption, and also increasingly making the decision on what wine to pick from wine lists in restaurants. In that context, one important learning for me from the Expo was confirmation of the strong desire to learn more about wine by women. We had great interest in the varieties we were showing, but the tasters were not only there to sample the wines.

They also wanted to learn; we were answering questions about the vineyard, our sustainable vineyard practices, wine-making, distribution and wine tourism.

It was great fun and we'll be back next year for sure.

New Beginnings!

2011-06-10T12:18:00.001+12:00

What's new at Murdoch James Estate then?

Well, those that follow my blog will know, we are fully committed to sustainable practices, and to us that means more than just monoculture and industrial scale wine making. For a long time now we have partnered the grapes with sheep to mow the grass, and have run Angus cattle on our unplanted land. This year we are excited to have begun yet another venture in parallel with the vines. We have recently started to build a herd of Belted Galloway's. This is a very rare breed of Scottish cattle, a perfect fit for Murdoch James Estate and our Scottish heritage!!

These guys really stand out in any crowd. They have a distinctive white belt around a black body, a double coat to cope with all weather, and a really solid, low-slung build. We will be breeding and raising pedigree cattle that can contribute to the viability of this lovely breed. I would describe them as gentle giants - they have a great temperament, are happy on all sorts of pasture and can handle our cold winters.

Best of all, they look just great. We have started with a bull (Fidel is his name) and three lovely cows in calf (Fidel is the dad). Shortly, they will be joined by 15 more that we will be bringing to the vineyard from another breeder in the South Island. This herd will then form the nucleus of our new initiative. They are not cheap; cows can be well over $1000, and a good bull 2 or 3 times that, but money is not everything, and we are all very excited about this new venture. Photos of the new calves to be posted in Spring, so click and follow our blog, to be kept up-to-date on how they fare!

Lab Work

2011-05-06T11:03:00.001+12:00

I sometimes think a lot of folk get the impression that wine is all about growing the grapes in the vineyard and then converting them to wine in the winery. That is true to a large extent, as is the reality that the making of a great wine comes down to the creative talents of the winemaker. There are no formulas to follow slavishly, unless you are one of the big producers who are looking for the same basic wine year after year.

But there are a lot of technical things small wineries can do to help ensure we make a good wine and avoid risks. At Murdoch James Estate we have a small laboratory where we test sample from the vineyard before harvest to check sugar levels, and during ferments to track the conversion of those sugars to alcohol. We also test for things like acidity. This technical detail is then paired with winemaker Carl's judgement and palate to deliver the final wine.

For the vintage Maria, our Administration Assistant, worked with Carl in the winery over vintage to help with processing, plunging and pressing. But she also did most of the lab work; a very important task she completed with skill.

This year's grapes are now in, and nearly all the ferments are complete. It has been a lovely harvest and the Pinot Noir should be excellent this year. Fine weather made harvest a breeze, and the teamwork was terrific. Now the vineyard looks a treat as the autumn colours are coming out. In fact, when I was driving into work this morning, the poplars at the gate were stunning and I had to take a photo - not a bad place to work is it!!??

Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and all the other Pinots!

2011-04-14T11:24:00.001+12:00

Followers will have read in some my old blogs that Pinot Noir is a grape that can mutate quickly to Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc or Pinot Meunier. In each variety there are also lots of different clones. All occur quite naturally - no genetic engineering here!

I found a good explanation of this recently on the 'pinotnoir.com' website. They explained that "Pinot Noir is a genetically unstable varietal. New clones, and to a lesser extent, new varietals are not uncommon occurrences in a Pinot Noir vineyard. Strolling through a vineyard of Pinot Noir, one may find one or more plants with single shoots that have characteristics unlike the rest of the wine. If you try to propagate these shoots into new vines, and all the buds on the new plant display the same attributes on the original shoot, then a new clone, or in extreme cases, a new varietal is born. Pinot Meunier, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc are some of the more successful mutations of Pinot Noir and produce distinct and unique wines on their own. Each differs from its parent, Pinot Noir, in the color of their fruit, and in the case of Pinot Meunier, a noticeable number of white "hairs" on the tip of the shoots".

If you think that this all sounds a bit odd, check out the two accompanying photographs. We are in the middle of the 2011 harvest (which I think could be one our best ever, but more about that in future blogs). When we were picking the Blue Rock Pinot Noir this year though, we found a bunch of grapes that was half Pinot Noir and half Pinot Blanc - yes same bunch. That is the top photo.

BUT then when we looked more closely we also found a berry that was half Pinot Noir colour and half Pinot Blanc colour - yes, a single berry! All pretty amazing eh! Look at the second of the two photos and you'll see the berry I refer to almost dead centre of the image. I assure you no Photo Shop trickery here.

A few nice autumn shots below too, and a real bunch of Pinot Noir!

Is the Martinborough Region now producing the world's best Pinot Noir?

2011-04-13T15:49:00.004+12:00

Now you all know from past blogs, that I have always thought Martinborough is the only place in New Zealand to grow classic Pinot Noir. By classic, I mean complex, layered, textured, savoury, lingering and long-lived. Well it looks to me if the world is about to realise that too!

Many newspapers and wine critics, including Huon Hooke, writing in the Melbourne Age, are head-lining the fact that a $200 bottle of New Zealand pinot noir beat off a strong field, including a $7000 bottle of French burgundy in a blind tasting in the US.

"Martinborough Vineyard Reserve Pinot Noir 1998 triumphed over one of the world's most prestigious wines, 1990 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti La Tache, to take No.1 ranking in the World's Top 20 Pinot Noirs competition in Pasadena, USA. Twelve judges blind-tasted 20 wines from New Zealand, the US, France, Germany and Australia. The competition was based on the 1976 Judgment of Paris, which caused a sensation when a Californian wine was chosen over famous French wines. As well as being ranked No.1 overall, the Martinborough Vineyard wine also received the most No.1 rankings - from three of the judges".

From a personal perspective, we at Murdoch James came to Martinborough to grow Pinot Noir because it had the potential to craft wines equal to the best of Burgundy. Now we believe the world is about to find out how much the dedicated winemakers in our region have moved from potential to reality in regards to that criteria.

There is something special about the vines, soils, climate and people here that create a very special terroir. What you now need to look for are the subtle differences in Martinborough's sub-appellations. For example, the wines from the lime rich soils of the Dry River region are noticably different to those grown on the gravels north of the village.

Hay in the pond - Makes a change from grapes on the vine!

2011-01-18T15:06:00.001+13:00

This winemaking is such a serious business, that I had to share this very different experience with you.

The consequences!

Our vineyard is about 32 hectares in size, but we only have around 22 hectares in vines. We also have about 10 hectares that we graze cattle on. This time of the year we close off a couple of paddocks to cut enough hay for me to get the cows through winter. Usually we cut the hay on one of our low lying blocks, but this year we decided to cut it on one of the sloping paddocks. That was no big deal if we had also stuck to cutting and storing the hay in the traditional small square bales. However, I decided to be efficient and to store the hay this year in the big round bales. Now, any intelligent person would have seen the consequences of this combination, but not me!

Chris to the rescue!

Round bales on a slope do only one thing. They roll downhill, and fast. So I have had to drag them out of drains, ditches, holes, but worst of all, out of our ponds!!

When it came time to call for volunteers to swin out and retrieve the floating one in the big pond, candidates were few and far between!! In the end, Chris jumped in and pushed it to the side where, after 3 broken ropes, we finally managed to drag it out with the vineyard tractor. Remember these big bales are 10 times the size of a traditional one, so are pretty heavy, even before they get water-logged!

On dry land at last!

All great entertainment on a Friday night for sure!!

Monday it was back to vineyard work - somehow not that exciting by comparison! That said, we are having a wonderful year with the grapes. A warm and dry Spring followed by a hot, dry Summer. Just a few more weeks of this and we should have a stunning harvest in terms of both quality and quantity.

On the road again.......

2010-10-17T03:48:00.001+13:00

I'm in Singapore this week for the NZ wine promo. Tonight (Saturday evening) was a consumer tasting at Loof. Loof is a rooftop bar/restaurant in that great city. They describe themselves as: "loof is a bar on a roof, a playfully versatile space which is multidimensional, split-level, and a juxtaposition of raw against refined. loof is designed as a refuge for the bedraggled office worker, a respite for the brilliant mind, a sanctuary for fools, a canvas for the budding artist and the launch pad for a brilliant night." Sounds great eh? That's what I thought too, but try pouring tastings for a big crowd in 30 degrees plus, and near 100% humidity! Anyway, good fun and lots of new converts to Murdoch James Estate wines. And a great location. The bar is on the roof of an office block with spectacular views of Singapore and nearby skyscrapers. Think I'll just come for a glass of Murdoch James Pinot Gris and enjoy the view next time though.

Tomorrow is a free day then Monday is full on with trade and media promotions.

While I am away working hard to get Murdoch James established in the key Asian markets, back at home wine-maker Carl is preparing to bottle our specialty wines: 'The MacIntyre' (our port style fortified red, named after a much loved old friend who died last year), the 'Rhiannon Rosé (this is our Pinot Meunier rosé named to celebrate the birth of my first grandchild), the 2010 Riesling, the 2009 Blue Rock Pinot Noir and the 'Trafalgar' (our ice-wine style late harvest wine). Lots on, but very exciting. There are some great wines in this grouping! Make sure you are on our contact list if any sound interesting as most of these will just be sold at cellar door or direct to our regular internet customers.

Our Chardonnay vines bite the dust!

2010-10-05T12:08:00.002+13:00

A few months ago, we made the hard decision to remove our 26 year old Chardonnay vines.

They were ungrafted plants which, for those that do not know, meant that they were vulnerable to phylloxera which is a sap-sucking bug related to aphids. This bug eventually drains so much goodness from the vines that the plant will die. Martinborough was free of this problem until about two years ago when poor quarantine practices at one of the local wineries saw it established here. Now with phylloxera one thing is certain - if it is in town it will spread to all the local vineyards eventually. So the upshot is that all ungrafted plants here are going to die.

What folk now do to avoid this risk is to graft the vines you want (i.e. Syrah, Reisling or whatever) onto phylloxera resistant Amercian rootstock

But phylloxera was not the main driver for the decision. We are in Pinot Noir territory and if we make a great bottle of Pinot, we can sell it for upwards of $40, while a chardonnay will command a much lower price. So it came down to simple economics. In this difficult financial era we have to optimise our efforts, and so we have decided to replace the chardonnay with Pinot Noir.

Now that is an easy decision to make in the winery office, but as you can see from the photo above, heart-breaking when you look at the consequences for these old vines. Specially when one then looks at where the other vines are up to at this time of year. All are now bursting with new life as the sap starts running and the buds break out; as the accompanying shot of our Pinot Noir vines shows.

As you can see we have cut the charonnay right back and will pull out the roots by tractor, leave the ground fallow for a year, then replant with grafted Pinot Noir. For those wondering why everyone did not just graft from day one, think about this: an ungrafted vine is free (just stick a cutting in the ground and the vine will grow), but a grafted vine comes from a nursery and costs between $4 and $6 each. So you can see why folk were tempted to go with ungrafted plants when they might need thousands of vines!

The saddest day at Murdoch James Estate

2010-09-22T15:45:00.000+12:00

Obituary: Pepper Fraser.

Pepper - The Chardonnay 'Guard Dog'!

Last week we lost our beloved Pepper. For those that do not know she was an Airedale we raised in Australia and brought back to New Zealand when we came home to plant our first vineyard. She has been Jill's and my companion for over 14 years and she welcomed many folk at our the cellar door all that time. Everyone got an inspection and had to pass approval before being allowed in, and a few pats on the way past were obligatory. In later years, as she aged, the process changed a bit. In the last few years, she just lay there happily, lifted a leg for visitors to scratch her tummy, then they had to step over her to get to our restaurant or tasting room.

Lovely, gentle and friendly, she converted many children who were frightened of large dogs to dog-lovers. It was great to see, and over the years many kids have come back to the winery looking for her. It was always a great thrill to see them recognise her and rush to pat her, pull her tail, or just cuddle her.

Sadly no more now, but our memories of those 14 years are rich and rewarding; 'walkies' every morning and night, a big wagging tail at the front door on arrival home (no matter how late we were), a big snuffly head out the window of our cars as we drove through the smells of the New Zealand country-side, a patient companion sitting at our feet in the office while we worked at nights communicating with customers all over the world, but best of all unconditional love from a wonderful dog.

As I write this I find it unbelievable anyone can abuse pets. In doing so, while demonstrating they are undeserving humans, they are missing out on one of the most uplifting experiences anyone can ever enjoy.

Raising a puppy teaches you patience and tolerance (think chewed favourite shoes and furniture!) but most of all it taught me that most of the stuff people consider important in the world pales beside the experience of sharing part of your life with a very special pet. The sad thing is that they don't live as long as we do, so parting always seems to come too soon and with a rush.

While we knew the end was approaching, it was still heart-breaking the day she passed away.

Pepper - all your family and friends, your acquintances, visitors to the winery, your buddies in the local dog population, the postman, and our neighbours, as well as Chardonnay, Rocco and Winston, will miss you for terribly. But in the fullness of time we will recall with increasing pleasure the best dog anyone could have been fortunate to have been given the gift of sharing 14 years with.

RIP

Are elections all bull?

2010-09-04T16:39:00.000+12:00

Lot's been happening in the last few weeks. Firstly one of our New Zealand distributors has merged with another company and no longer need us, so we have been given the 'pink slip' and asked to move on. Not too bad an outcome actually as they did not sell a lot of our wine, but still disappointing after all the work we put in. However, that's life and as consequence we need to identify a new partner to help us sell our wines in the domestic market. While we are doing that I have been out an about in the market calling on key customers and filling the gap. To that end I was recently in the Hawke's Bay to see a key on-line marketing company, and on the way back to Martinborough I spotted the accompanying scenario in a paddock just outside Havelock North. Nothing to do with wine, but it really made me smile. Does this bull know something we don't? Or is he telling us to vote for Mr Mackintosh? Or does he just think local politics is a load of 'old bull'?

In the vineyard, the team is almost finished pruning and the canes they have had to work with look great, so we are looking forward to a good vintage in 2011. But the most exciting news of the month is the recent arrival of Rhiannon, my first granddaughter (and maybe our future wine-maker!). Well......... maybe I should not get too far ahead on myself, but as the great granddaughter of Murdoch James Fraser, she is the 4th generation of the Fraser Clan to be involved with our winery so it is all just wonderful.

With spring upon us and summer just around the corner, the restaurant and cellar door are picking up as well. Quite busy most weekends and great feedback on Bloom Restaurant and Terrace. We have a wonderful team there who lease the restaurant from us. Michael and Jerry have been open just under 12 months and the number of repeat visitors is amazing. With a lovely deck ready for summer, and their decision to move to a full organic menu, we can only expect that to continue and for their business to grow. And this is good for Murdoch James of course, as visitors to the restaurant often stop for tastings, to but wine, or to do one of our 'Grape to Glass' tours.

Our Man in Japan

2010-07-07T11:54:00.003+12:00

Yesterday was one of the hardest days I have worked in a long time! We participated in the New Zealand Winegrowers Toko Wine Fair, and the turnout was exceptional. There was a trade tasting first, from 12.30 to 5.00pm, than a short break, followed by a consumer tasting from 6.30 to 9.00pm. There were over 400 people at each event, tasters were often 2 or 3 deep in front of our stand, there was the excitement of working in a language we had little knowledge of, we were on our feet all that time, and no time for coffee or a snack - so, don't let anyone tell me that travelling and promoting wine is a junket!!

That said, while it was a very long day, it reminded me of the need to be out talking to all our customers worldwide. This event gave us the opportunity to present our wines to customers directly and to start continue building a bond with them. The wines were extremely well received and our importer Pony Group Inc has indicated they will add another 2 wines (Pinot Gris, Martinborough Pinot Noir or Syrah) to the two they already carry (Fraser and Blue Rock Pinot Noirs), so that was a great outcome. We have worked with the Pony company for about a year now and we could not wish for a better partner. A great hard working team, organised and capable of selling premium wines in a challenging market. Mr Wada is the sales manager (here in the photo on the left) and he is very supportive of our wines. We also had assistance from one of the Pony team as at each session and that was invaluable for someone whose Japanes does not go much further than 'konichiwa'. Tomoko (in the photo below) helped us in the morning session and one of her colleagues did the same in the evening session.

We found the Japanese public to be highly knowledgable about wines, and very keen to taste new releases from New Zealand and I am really enthusiastic about the prospects for our wines here. We presented the 'Fraser', 'Blue Rock' and 'Martinborough' Pinot Noirs, the Pinot Gris and the Syrah. What really motivated were the large number of people who came back later in the day and said our wines were among the best they had tasted at the show.

Tonight and tomorrow we have wine and food match dinners at Tokyo restaurants, then a few days break before we move onto Korea, so watch this space for more on our Asian sales adventures.

Our North and South Dinner

2010-06-18T17:48:00.002+12:00

Well, we hosted our Martinborough vs Otago wine and food dinner at Ortega last Tuesday with a sell out crowd upstair for the dinner, and the Welsh rugby team downstairs dining as well. We were hoping for some fine Welsh songs later in the evening, but none eventuated. I personally think the guys were very focussed on being in good shape for the All Blacks on Saturday. Best of luck for them in the game too. We will certainly see a much more competitive game than Ireland was able to contribute last week for sure.

The dinner went very well; a lot of great discussion, some good-hearted disagreements, lovely food, good company and new friendships. I have to remind myself that this is actually my job too!

We thought Davey and the kitchen team at Ortega had done a good job of matching wine and food, including some that were quite a challenge to the wines, but all came through OK. The service was excellent and we can recommend the restaurant whole-heartedly. But rather than me writing some notes that may have some suspected bias, why not check out a blog posting from one of the guests?

Click this link: http://roarprawn.blogspot.com/2010/06/wine-onanist.html

The event was so successful we will do it again next week (sold out) and again in August (date to be confirmed). Think we could take the idea national too!

It's pruning time again!

2010-06-02T13:24:00.001+12:00

Started puning this week and guess what!? After one of the very best spells of autumn weather on record, we have just had two weeks of almost solid rain, so the team are doing what they can in the few clear spells we have had. I admire their perseverance as the work solidly in the cold weather. I realise I am very lucky to have a lot of indoor work to do just now!

For me it is annual budget time for the business. It's a hard one this year, as we try to build a robust plan against a background of a global economic crisis, which seems never-ending; yesterday Greece and Spain, tomorrow who knows what. What I do know is that this crunch has had a huge impact on wine prices and has driven a shift on consumption patterns. No more $100 wines on corporate expense accounts, two $9 wines at the supermaret instead of one $20 one, and less dining out are just a few things I've noticed. Result? Less sales of premium wines, which are our main focus.

On top of that costs have increased; excise duty is about to go up to $1.95 per bottleand GST is about to increase to 15%. Think about that when you buy a $7 bottle of wine - nearly half is tax, and after the middlemen take their share, there is not a lot left for the winemaker! In addition, suppliers have increased costs of things like cartons, bottles and labels, and inputs like freight are also on the rise. Result? Slimmer margins and declining profitability.

This puts planning pressure on wineries and their budgets, and we are not immune to that.

All of which makes budgeting a challenge, particularly in a climate where banks are not that sympathetic either. All sounds a bit gloomy, but while things are tough our social media initiatives are really helping offset flat exports and slow domestic sales. Our Facebook, Twitter and Blog activities have introduced a lot of new people to Murdoch James Estate and our wines. We have shared experiences and ideas with lots of folk and made a lot of new friends. While it is hard to show with direct evidence that this contact is helping with sales, it is no coincidence that, since we embarked on our social media journey last year, our direct and internet sales have increased dramatically.

On top of that we have made great contacts to help with things like label designs, names for new wines and potential new distributors. It is all very exciting and stimulating, and certainly lift the cloud of economic gloom off our shoulders!

What's best? Martinborough or Otago Pinot Noir?

2010-05-25T15:57:00.004+12:00

A few blogs back, I was chatting about how fantastic a Winemakers Dinner we hosted in Hong Kong had gone. If you missed follow this link: http://birthofawine.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html

A few of our followers asked if we ever did anything like in in New Zealand? Well, the answer is yes! Here is your chance to enjoy a similar event in Wellington, and at the same time answer the commonly-asked question, which region makes the best Pinot Noir: Martinborough or Central Otago? We are hosting a dinner at Ortega on Tuesday 15th July at 7.30pm, entitled "THE NORTH & SOUTH DINNER".

This is a wine and food-Matched Dinner with Murdoch James Estate of Martinborough & Olssens of Bannockburn, Central Otago. Over the last few years there has been an ongoing debate about which of these two regions produces the best Pinot Noir wines, and the theme of this dinner is designed to allow participants to form their own views. The concept is a dinner comparing the wines from Murdoch James Estate in Martinborough and Olssens in Central Otago. Both are small family owned vineyards producing premium quality wines. In additional to the matched wine and food menu, guests will also get to try a back vintage of each of the wineries flagship wines, including the Fraser and Slapjack Creek Pinot Noirs. Around 12 wines will be tasted on the night, all matching an inspiring menu.

Places are filling fast, but if you are interested, feel free to e-mail me at info@murdoch-james.co.nz and if you are interested in more detail, here's the menu:

Olssens & Murdoch James Dinner Menu

First Course

Couturier Goats Cheese & King Prawn Canneloni,

tomato chipotle salsa with a lemon infused reduction

matched with

Murdoch James Sauvignon Blanc 2008,

Olssens Sauvignon Blanc 2009

Second Course
Spicy Cakes Fish, citrus salad, chilli jam mussel
with a tamarind lime dressing

matched with

Murdoch James Blue Rock Riesling 2008,

Olssens Riesling Dry 2009

Third Course

Slow roasted Pork Belly, truffled lentils & cabbage,

sautéed mushrooms & Pinot Noir gravy

matched with

Murdoch James Martinborough Pinot Noir 2008

Olssens Nipple Hill Pinot Noir 2009

Fourth Course

Rustic Salad of Rabbit, lardoons, walnuts & blue cheese

matched with

Murdoch James Estate Blue Rock Pinot Noir 2008

Olssens Jackson Barry Pinot Noir 2008

Cheese Course

Livarot Cheese with brandied prunes

matched with

Murdoch James Estate Syrah 2008

Olssens Robert the Bruce 2008

Autumn in Martinborough - Cow go crazy on grapes!

2010-05-07T14:37:00.002+12:00

Back home now, to the most stunning Autumn weather we have ever experienced. How's this for a sunset?!

All grapes are in now, and while the quantity is a little down on 2009, the 2010 quality is great. We are looking forward to finishing the ferments and seeing what the final wines look like. It's a bit like waiting for a grandchild to be born!

I often get asked what happens to the waste skins and stalks. Well, they are all either composted or recycled - how recycled? Well check out the accompanying recycling 'machines', and they just love the pressings - I call these my 10 Fat Ladies (even though a couple are gentlemen!). Yes, in addition to wine growing, social media, wine sales, blogging and vineyard maintenance, I also breed angus cattle. Great fun, and a wonderful breed to work with. But, when we take the fork-lift into the paddock with the tipper full of grape skins you have to dump and run! There is literally a stampede as they race across the paddock to get first taste of them. I used to have a much bigger herd, but the financial pressures of the last 12 months forced me to downsize my farming interests a little. That said, they still give me a lot of pleasure and keep me grounded. And maybe grow the herd again in the not too distant future. I've got chickens, cats and dogs too, so sorry, some more pet shots to follow in future blogs.

Murdoch James Estate in Hong Kong

2010-04-25T13:49:00.002+12:00

Well another day, another country, and don't let anyone tell me that international travel is fun. I have now been travelling for two weeks promoting Murdoch James Estate wines in Vietnam and Hong Kong and while the customer interaction is fantastic, I have to say that the travel itself is not. The GFC (trendy abbreviation for the Global Financial Crisis) has hit wineries just as hard as any other business; sales are down, there is a mad scramble to get new distributors, and prices are tumbling. In respect of the latter I have seen crazy prices recently for wines which must be below the cost of production. Why? Because many wineries have high borrowings built up over the years to fund development, and now that banks are taking a hard line and not lending to help wineries handle the down turn, they have to sell at any price they can just to survive.

While we have tried to hold prices at sensible levels at Murdoch James, we have had to work hard to cut expenses, hence my comment above about travel. Don't look for me in either business class, Premium economy or 5 or 4 star hotels. The room I type this in has to be the smallest hotel room I have ever stayed in, but it has saved the company a lot of money.

All that is offset by the thrill of tasting wine with Murdoch James wine lovers all around the world. Getting feedback that our wines compare with the very best from consumers certainly makes it all worthwhile. Since I arrived here Wednesday, I have conducted staff training with the fantastic team at Nathan Fine Wines, called on sommeliers in some great restaurants, done tastings in wine bars with their customers and hosted a winemakers dinner. The latter in the Santa Lucia restaurant, on the 38th floor of the Panorama Hotel (I'm told it is the highest restaurant in Hong Kong). How's that for a view? At that dinner, we matched 7 of our wines with a degustation menu, and again got great feedback on our wines, particularly the Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Riesling. I posted the menu on Facebook just to make you all a little envious! Copy this link to your browser and salivate: http://bit.ly/aTLC4b

With the visit overall, our Hong Kong importer here feels my time investment here will ceratinly pay off.

Tonight I leave for home in Martinborough, New Zealand to join the team for the rest of the 2010 harvest.

Murdoch James Estate in Vietnam - Part 2

2010-04-24T17:00:00.001+12:00

Have been in Hong Kong a few days now promoting Murdoch James Estate wines, after leaving Hanoi on Wednesday last.

Vietnam was a great country to visit, and the contrast between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi was dramatic.The former, bustling and growing fast, but with that change a lot of history has gone. Hanoi by contrast still has it's 'Old Town' with narrow streets and leafy avenues, plus it's famous cathedral. It is still growing fast, but in a more controlled manner. The local people we great, very friendly and helpful, while the restaurants served excellent food and were great value for money. One example: two course lunch with two beers for just NZ$12! The roadside food stalls were even better value and exciting to experment with.

I did have to pay special attention to the currency though. One NZ$ = 13,800 Vietnamese Dong, so not uncommon to get bills for many hundred thousand Dong! One evening meal for 4 of us was Dong 1,300,000. Scary, until you divide by 13,800 and realise that is only NZ$100!

On the business side, the trip has gone well, and we hope to have a distributor for Murdoch James Estate wines in Vietnam in the not too distant future. I was amazed to see how popular red wnes were compared to whites. In a hot climate with a cuisine that is subtle and delicate, drinking red wines seemed odd, yet I am told over 85-90% of all wines consumed are reds. While in Hanoi, we did a tasting for the wine trade at the Hanoi Lakeside Intercontinental; what a stunning hotel! I have put a lot of images of the hotel, on our Facebook page, so log on and view them - I think I'm a reasonable photographer actually, but don't be afraid to tell me otherwise! If you do a search on Facebook for Murdoch James Estate you'll find us.Or copy and paste the shortened URL that follows: http://bit.ly/aTLC4b

Meantime, here's is an image to wet your appetit, it is a world class hotel with an amazing design.

AsI flew out to Hong Kong, I was thinking that there is plenty of room for me to grow Murdoch James Estate wine sales in Vietnam, but it won't be easy. Taxes on wines are over 100%, there is huge competition from Chile and Australia and beverage consumption is only slowing swinging away from whisky and cognac. The big hotels like this will be an important target market, as will the coastal tourist resorts; and I'll certainly need to come back!

For Australia Followers only

2010-04-20T15:52:00.000+12:00

I was recently asked by one of my followers on Facebook, where in Australia you can purchase Murdoch James Estate wines.

The best places are any Vintage Cellars fine wine store (there are lots in most states) or the fine wine section in First Choice stores. Enjoy!

For more information, click on www.murdochjames.co.nz or www.vintagecellars.com.au

Murdoch James Estate in Vietnam

2010-04-18T14:39:00.005+12:00

I have now been in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for 5 days and it is both exciting and overwhelming; exciting because of the potential here for our wines, and also because of the dynamism of the city, and overwhelming because of complexity and rapid rate of growth of industry.

My first day was a break to get over the long flight from New Zealand, so I thought I would just take a walk and unwind.

That was my first mistake - one cannot walk and unwind in Ho Chi Minh City. The traffic is crazy, motorbikes everywhere and it seemed to me that traffic lights and pedestrian crossings were indicative only.

It took me a while to build up courage to cross roads. Have a look at these images and you will get a feel for what I am talking about, but they don't do justice to the real life experience!

Next day was to set up the first Trade tasting which was organised by the New Zealand Trade & Enterprise team here. It was an excellent event with great turnout and an ideal showcase for New Zealand Food and Wine. From this event I was able to make appointments with several potential distributors and have since had follow up meetings, with positive outcomes.

Again, the accompanying photographs don't do justice to the quality of the event, nor the venue (Park Hyatt, Saigon). I was very impressed with the interest of both consumers and the wine trade in New Zealand wines, however we do face a challenge in achieving sales in a market which has been dominated to date by French and Chilean wine producers. They have got a big start on us and we have a lot of ground to make up. But, as in all markets the people who are prepared to do the hard yards, pounding the streets and building relationships, will be the ones who succeed in Vietnam.

Friday and Saturday I spend following upon sales leads, and then our stay in Ho Chi Minh City finished Saturday night at the 14th Annual NZ Wine & Food Festival in Vietnam.

Another great wine and food event showcasing NZ wines.

Today, Sunday I fly up to Hanoi to do it all again!

Murdoch James off to Vietnam

2010-04-17T02:09:00.001+12:00

Well, vintage 2010 has started and I am reminded how I said exactly 12 months ago that I would blog every day on the 2009 vintage! Well, I'm not going to do that again this year - I learnt from bitter experience how challenging it is to publish interesting posts and still do the day job! But I will certainly continue the blog and try and post weekly.

It was easy to write this post as when I did it I was squeezed in a lovely economy seat on a flight to Vietnam. On one side of me fellow passenger is snoring loudly, while in front of me two babies are testing their lung-power. No snoring for me, so I thought "what a great opportunity to blog"......

I flew on Cathay Pacific, and when I read the newspaper on board I was a little concerned by the headlines: "Pilots hailed as hero's" which was reporting on a recent Cathay crash, but we got there safely. In fact, considering how full the flight was, and that I was in economy, I though both the cabin crew and the flight were superb. I strongly recommend them.

This basis of the trip is to go to Vietnam for two weeks to participate in the NZ Wine and Food Fairs in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, and then off to Hong Kong to work with our excellent importer there (Nathan Fine Wines).

There is a very active NZ Trade and Enterprise team in Vietnam and they have organised both consumer and trade tasting events in each city. With the trade, they have invited 10 NZ wineries who have not exported to Vietnam before to participate, and they have invited wine distributors who have an interest in representing NZ wines to the tastings. On top of that, they have set up despatch of samples and promotional materials. I have been really impressed at their organisation and efforts - first class. It should all be synergistic. The NZ T&E Vietnam team are to be commended on this initiative. I will also see a number of other importers that I have set up appointments with individually too. So, it will be a busy week, and I hope to come out of it with with new business. On the personal front, I have not been to Vietnam before, so it is an exciting trip for me.

As I said, after Vietnam I fly to Hong Kong to work with our existing importer there. We have set up some staff training and sales calls, but the thing I look forward to mostly are the dinners our agent has set up with his key customers - tasting wines with food is the very best way to present the wines, so it will be a great opportunity. I saw yesterday one of the menus - a 6 course degustation menu with each course partnered with one of our wines. I'll copy it into a future blog, just to make you all envious!

First pick 2010

2010-04-14T02:24:00.002+12:00

$%#@*&!

This wine business is hard work!

We started our 2010 harvest last Thursday (8th April 2010) and, while we expected a smaller crop than last year doue to the bad weather at flowering and the cold weather in January last, as the grapes are coming in, it is much smaller than we thought. In some varieties, particularly the chardonnay, we are down over 50%. Pinot and Syrah is not so bad, but also smaller crops. If you think about it that means for the same inputs, we get less grapes (read that as less wine to sell), and at a higher average cost per tonne. If we have to buy in grapes to plug any demand gaps, that is a double-whammy on the budget and not pleasant to contemplate.

Those of you who know me know that I am nothing if not an optomist! So, yes there is a silver lining to the cloud - small cops, but also great quality. Winemaker Carl thinks this is the best quality Pinot Noir grapes we have harvested ever, so watch out for the 2010 releases.

Now in an ideal world, one would simply charge more per bottle, but the wine world does not work that way. In fact, due to serious oversupply out of Australia and Marlborough, the pressure on price is downwards. Just holding prices flat is pretty good in the current environment. So we have to absorb these costs with their negative impact on profitability. While our wines are very highly regarded, it is not possible to apply price increases at present. And just when we were starting to make a good profit - ah well, no-one told me wine-making was an easy path to riches.........

That brings me back to our new social media strategy, which is designed to to drive sales through non-traditional channels, where costs are not so high. For example, selling on-line direct from Murdoch James means we don't lose margin to middle-men.We are also looking at working with innovative on-line marketers in international markets, and all our communications tools are now in place to underpin that (Blog, Twitter, Face-book, Website, etc) so hopefully the message is getting out there that Murdoch James Estate is determined to make the most of these new technologies to communicate with our potential customers and give them the confidence to try our wines. The more I enter into this medium, the more it reinforces to me how dramatically and quickly the way wines are being purchased is changing. I have an emerging view that one day, apart from on-premise sales, we will be selling all our wines one way or other over the internet.

Now, I'm off to Vietnam and Hong Kong this week to promote our wines, so some interesting posts to follow.

A Split Personality! Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and My Social Media Journey

2010-03-13T17:11:00.002+13:00

I am developing a split personality. I am not quite sure where this blog is heading. It started out as a way to track our wines through the year after harvest, but it seems more of a Social Media commentary each time I post to it!

Each day I am amazed how much there is to learn about social media and story-telling, and the communication vehicles that are available. Today I just watched the launch video for Google Wave, and the technological advances were mind-boggling. How I put that together with my small steps in Twitter and Facebook I'm not sure yet. What I do know is that all this stuff is converging , and it will get easier day-by-day for the user to communicate with people interested in their products (in our case, wines obviously). I am also learning that there are good and bad ways to use these tools. I guess the single most important learning is that one cannot use these media to 'push' your product at people. There is no better way to turn them off. But, if you can share valuable and credible information with the internet community, the folk who like what they see will contact you. People often say that social media takes too much time. My view is that the the 'time' bit is correct, but not the 'too' bit! Who would not want to talk directly with their customers? There is no doubt we are getting tour booking and winery sales from these initiatives. Not a lot, but growing slowly. Just as important are the on-line relationships I now have with wine lovers all around the world. We share information about our wines, other wines, images, experiences and our locations. It brings us closer together in a relationship that certainly has a commercial element to it, but in which the commercial side follows on from a meaningful and more comprehensive relationship based on information exchanges.

On the wine side, we had a bit of a bad week last week when we had a blend of Pinot Noir all ready for bottling and the labels were a 'no-show'. Luckily we found out about that before we had pumped the wine (13,000 litres!) into the tanker for transport down to the bottling plant. So, just put a layer of protective argon on top of the wine in tank until the labels turn up. Argon is a gas that sits on top of the wine, and does not dissolve in it. The gas forms a protective layer between the wine and the air. Still a bummer to lose the bottling date. Now we need to wait until another one is available; hopefully not too long as we have export customers waiting for the wine
Went for a stroll in the vineyard to get over the stress (mine was not as bad as Winemaker Carl's though!), and cheered myself up when I saw how good the 2010 Pinot Gris, is looking - as the image above shows. I often get asked about the differences between Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir, and the answer is not a lot. The name comes from the fact the berries are not as dark as Pinot Noir. They are grey in colour, not black and Gris is simply the French word for grey; as is Grigio in Italian. That said, the berries are quite dark this year, but we will separate the skins from the juice quite quickly so the wine will still be white.

You have all read my earlier grumbles about the cool weather slowing ripening in older posts. Well the last week has been great with a warm, dry start to autumn, which just as well as we are seeing colour changes in the poplars now. The grapes won't be far behind. Every warm day is a big plus. In the winery we are setting up the equipment ready to handle the harvest; destemmer, ferments, tanks, etc, so the excitement for crush 2010 is building!

Time to learn a new word? Try Veraison!

2010-03-07T22:32:00.001+13:00

This is what we have been hanging out for, veraison. Which is what?? Well read on: There are many European words that have been adopted by New World winemakers often because one French or German word can replace a sequence of English ones. Véraison is no exception: it is a wine-making term meaning "the onset of ripening". It is originally French, and the official definition of veraison is "change of color of the grape berries." Veraison represents the transition from berry growth to berry ripening, and many important changes occur in berry development occur at this time.

The accompanying image shows what I mean, so berries are still green, other partially coloured and some quite dark. What we want now is warm weather for a couple of weeks to ripen all the berries fully. It is this phase of development that gives the sugar levels and flavours we need, while the acidity drops and the seeds mature. It is this ripening which makes grapes so attractive to birds, and requires the nets we talked about in the last posting to keep them away!

This year we are very late in reaching veraison and so are keeping everything crossed for fine weather over the next month, leading into harvest. We have a winemaker from France joining us this year for vintage, so I will have even more French lessons for you all soon.

On the social media front, we now have a Facebook page in place for Murdoch James Estate http://www.facebook.com/pages/Murdoch-James-Estate/306091360747 - now to use it. Meantime have a look and tell me how you'd like it to evolve! I also recently got my first Twitter spam messages, but at the same time am getting lots of encouragement to persevere. Good feedback on the blog too, so if any readers would like a specific topic covered, let me know via the comments section

100,000+ Meters of Bird Netting!!

2010-02-19T11:08:00.001+13:00

Finished at last. The team have laid out over 100 kilometers of bird netting in the last 3 weeks - that's a long way, and a mountain of nets. We actually had to build an extra shed to store them when not in use!

Have a look at the attached images. We use side nets as that allows us to continue to manage the canopy, even after the nets are on. Many vineyards use over-row nets but, while easier and less time consuming to apply, these don't permit any further trimming after they in place. The downside with side nets is that there is a lot more clipping of the nets together to keep the birds out. We buy the bio-degradable clips we use in lots of 500,000, so think about that too!

It took 2 guys working flat out nearly two weeks to finish the clipping, then last weekend a gale (150km+ winds), broke quite a few clips so we had to replace them. In fact the winds were so strong on our 'Highfold Block' that several vineyard posts snapped off - now that's a strong wind. These are not thin sticks we are talking about. We like the sloping vineyards for their extra sunlight hours, no frosts and the great drainage, but times like this do make one realise the saying "no gain without pain" is very true.

Why do we need nets? It's because of the *$%%$@!# birds! If we did not net we would risk losing upwards of 20% of our fruit to the little devils. If they just took the odd grape and flew away, that would not be so bad, but what actually happens is that they peck a hole in one grape on a bunch, enjoy some of the juice and move on. That grape then weeps the rest of it's juice onto the bunch, it then goes mouldy and is lost to us. On top of the nets, we use measures like scarers and hawks (we hang meat out for them & when they come for the meat, they frighten off the smaller birds). Other wineries use all sorts of things: electronic scarers, scarecrows, gas cannons and so on. It's a real battle and people try all sorts of things, but believe me, the birds work out ways around all of them. They may be small, but it's not a one-sided fight!!!

Murdoch James 2004 'Blue Rock' Pinot Noir

2010-02-15T11:22:00.001+13:00

Just a quick post today for anyone who has some of our 2004 'Blue Rock' Pinot Noir in the cellar. We tasted one recently from our library stocks, and the view was that if you still have any we would recommend enjoying it now. While the wine will not 'fall over' tomorrow it is just past it's best, so sensible to enjoy it soon. It is from a cooler vintage where the wines did not reach the depth and concentration we usually achieve at Blue Rock.

The colour is a pale garnet, and shows signs of reaching maturity. As lovers of this wine will recall, it is made solely from the Abel clone of Pinot Noir, which constituted much of Martinborough's original plantings. This is a clone with lovely floral notes in the bouquet, and a rich pallate. This wine did not disappoint in that respect; it had hints of violets on the nose, with rich savoury elements and a hint of earthiness. The texture was smooth and silky after 5 years in bottle. Enough acidity remains to provide a good backbone to the remaining fruit (cherries and red berries). Enjoy now.

Vega Sicilia

2010-02-02T21:25:00.003+13:00

Time for a change from vineyard discussions!

Thursday last week, we had dinner with some dear friends down from Auckland. We have known Tom and Faye for over 30 years, so the occasion deserved a decent wine. I went down to our cellars at Murdoch James Estate to see what I had in my personal wine collection, and found a bottle of 1970 (yes, 1970) Vega Sicilia Unico. Actually, I found 6 bottles, which is great, as you will see from the following tasting notes.

Vega Sicilia is Spain's most famous vineyard and many of the wines they make are held back 10 or more years after bottling, before release - in the case of the 1970, I believe it was 20 years!

Notes: Dark, almost inky in colour, just a hint of browning at the edges; when first poured a little restrained (you would be too after 40 years!), but in the glass, really opened up with earthy, leathery notes emerging. Every time we took a sniff, it opened up even more. Hints of lovely red fruits at the end - I could have sniffed this wine for hours. In essence, the nose opened up to a complexity we rarely see in such old wines.

Then to taste it.... unbelievable! Vibrant acidity, with dark fruits and still robust wood notes. After all this time, the wine was perfectly integrated, and although a earthy with a masculine finish, it had a lingering delicacy on the finish that justified current selling prices (up to US$ 750 I'm told).

Ah well, back to budgets and making much more modestly priced wine tomorrow!

Plucking!

2010-01-26T15:23:00.002+13:00

I have been talking about 'plucking' for the last few months, and have recently been asked to clarify the term. Well, OK. It has nothing to do with chooks - that's the first thing. It's all about showing the grapes to the sun and wind. As always, pictures tell a thousand words, so here's a 'before' shot:

And here's the 'after' shot:

In the first image, the grapes are hidden by the leaves. In the second shot we have pulled off all the leaves around the bunches to let air circulate which reduces the risk of mildew and disease and to let sun in; again to reduce disease risk. Both also result in the grapes developing thicker skins, which gives us more to work with when fermenting. Thicker skins allow us to extract more flavours and tannins.

As always, feel free to drop me a note if you have any questions about the foregoing. And, feel free to share my blog link with anyone you think may be interested. It is:
http://birthofawine.blogspot.com/2010/01/plucking.html
On the social media front, I'm getting there!! We purchased a flip camera the other day, so maybe video on the blog soon! Also, our Twitter sites are growing in support. I'm still working on our Facebook presence - will tell you more soon. One key development from our increased exposure has been the jump in contacts from people who like and and have tried our wines - from all over the world. It has been an exciting discovery.

Ready to go

2010-01-19T22:39:00.003+13:00

Winemaker Carl is happy today!!
We are finalising several wines for bottling the first week of February, and over the last month or so, our glycol system (used for cooling the wines) gave up the ghost. Ten years old, the plastic pipes were starting to crack and leak. We have had to replace all the lines with special new pipes (guaranteed for 50 years, so that's good), but at a cost of over $15,000! I've long since learned that when pricing anything in a winery start with 3 noughts! After installation and testing, it is back in operation.

Which is great as Carl is preparing the 2009 Chardonnay, 2009 Pinot Gris, and 2009 Sauvignon Blanc, as well as the 2008 Syrah and the rest of our 2008 Pinot Noir for bottling on February 4 and 5. Watch this space for feedback on the wines - we are very happy with them, but until in bottle and settled down, we are always a bit nervous.

The cooling system is essential during vintage as well, but at this time we need it to cold stabilise the wines before the bottling run. Chilling the wine down forces tartrates to crystalise out of the wine. If not removed the tartrates form in the bottle, and while harmless, detract from the appearance of the wine

The weather sucks!

2010-01-18T21:43:00.003+13:00

I’m tired!
•   Of rain!!
•   Of cold weather!!
•   Of wind!!

The last three weeks, which are generally assumed to be part of our peak summer months, have been rubbish. Have a look at the accompanying image – this is one of the roads in our region! Totally unseasonal rain has created slips and floods.......

The weather is costing the grapes time as it slows development down. We continue to run well behind a normal time-line and are hoping for warmer weather to make up lost time. Next week we finish ‘plucking’. This is stripping the leaves away from around the growing grape bunches, to allow sunlight to reach them and for air movement to prevent humidity and mildew.

On the social media side, we had a team workshop last Friday on the new technologies and how we might use them. I have to say the flow chart linking all technologies looked a bit like a pile of spaghetti: You Tube, Twitter, Picassa, Google, Facebook, etc, etc. I did learn that You Tube is now the second largest search tool on-line after Google – amazing. It was a great day seeing what is on the e-horizon!!!! I'm getting there with it all.

Grape flowers and Twitter!

2009-12-11T16:04:00.001+13:00

In the vineyard, flowering is now well underway, but it is interesting to see just how variable it is across and between varieties. Some clones of Pinot Noir are up to 50% flowering, while others are less than 10%. The more sheltered blocks are also doing well, which is not surprising.

Once flowering is complete then the decision will be made as to how much fruit we need to drop. Meaning, how many small bunches need to be sacrificed to ensure a top quality crop. Always a difficult decision, as it feels a bit like dropping dollar bills on the ground, however with wine, quantities must be kept low to ensure quality fruit.

On the commercial front we have been actively engaged in working our way through the implications of social networking for a business like ours, and in fact have set up a team workshop early January to ensure all our team is engaged with the initiative.

Those of you that have been following our blog will recall a few posts back I said “watch this space as a 60 year old learns all about new media”. Well I can report that it has been the most stimulating few weeks of my business life as I learn all about Facebook and Twitter. We are just finalising a page for the former and have today set up a Twitter link (@MurdochJamesEst) where I’ve just posted my first Tweet! That was about the first taste of our 2008 Syrah which we are now finalising the blending of for release in January.

Also doing some great stuff on sella (www.sella.co.nz). Check it out!! Log onto sella, then Stores, Murdoch James and bid in the auctions!!

Feel free to comment and/or make suggestions as to how I can improve our communications with wine lovers. My long term goal is to be able to talk directly to as many consumers of our wine as I can.

Flowering approaches

2009-11-24T17:51:00.002+13:00

We are about to wind up for the day here at the vineyard, but before heading off, I thought a quick update was timely. The vines look great, and the weather is very settled, as you’ll see from this photo of my Airedale in the vines which as proud owner I’ll share with you.

But in thinking about today’s enjoyable weather, I am mindful that over a month ago I was boasting about how far advanced the vineyard was and that we were off to a flying start. Well, nature again has proved me wrong. We have had continuous and strong winds which have really knocked the vines about. The vineyard has gone from lush green to a dry brown in only a few weeks. While a little bit of wind is great, helping reduce disease risk, gales of 100km/h plus are certainly not.

The team has had to clean up branches from the wind-breaks, re-tuck vines we just tucked a few weeks ago and replace some wind-damaged trellising. Let’s hope things are a bit more settled from now on.

We hope for flowering next week, and want dry conditions with just gentle breezes. That combination will give us ideal flowering conditions, so fingers crossed. For interest I have included an image of a grape flower for you. As you will see, a pretty insignificant flower from which the magic nectar will flow!

In fact, if we have really good flowering, we may be faced with dropping some fruit to avoid the vines struggling to ripen more berries than they can handle. With the slowdown in growth we need to be careful we do not stretch the vines beyond their capacity. Always a tough decision, but it needs to be made early, so we don’t waste nutrition on grapes that won’t ripen.

Ballons over Martinborough

2009-11-06T11:40:00.001+13:00

Have just set up a new 'Comments' facility on our Blog, so this posting is really just a test of that. But I thought we should make it interesting with a nice image of ballooning over Martinborough!

2009-11-05T14:09:00.004+13:00

While sitting on our beautiful deck I was speaking to a new contact this morning – Craig at www.MondayMorning.biz

He had called me because a wine lover in the USA had approached him through one of Craig's Twitter posts. The gentleman from the USA was planning a trip to New Zealand and was asking Craig about what sorts of wine experiences were available in Martinborough. Of course we could offer to help – as one of the regions oldest vineyards, we have a strong interest in wine tourism, and can offer visitors unique, in-depth tours, barrel caves visits, accommodation, and dining are just some of the options. The restaurant has just been totally redecorated, and for those who love good food, it is well worth planning a visit to check out the new menu.

You may also meet our very photogenic vineyard dog, Pepper!!

Over the years, we have received very positive feedback from visitors from all over the world, and no other winery in Martinborough can offer the combination of wine and food related activities Murdoch James Estate can.

But that was not what prompted me to draft this blog update. What actually got me typing were two other things. First, the round-about way this potential visitor will have found out about us through social networks. And, second, the conversation that followed during Craig’s call. We discussed the rise of social networking, how consumers now sought their information and made buying decisions, and the need for credible communications.

It all tied into several discussions I have been having with traditional media (radio and magazines) about advertising options. Often these are expensive and not as targeted as one would like, particularly for a smaller winery with limited distribution, such as Murdoch James Estate.

It makes much more sense to think through how to communicate directly with existing or potential customers. And at the same time, not to annoy them (for example, with large numbers of promotional emails) which I suspect we now do. Craig also made several other important points that made me decide to spend some time reflecting on how we invest our meagre promotional budget.

While we set this blog up to track our wines as they evolve through the year, it may well also become a bit of a record of how a 60 year old comes to grips with Twitter!!

If you have any comments on this or any of our blog posting, feel free to phone or email us.

2009-10-21T13:21:00.002+13:00

Long time between posts!

Several of you asked what happened to our stuck ferment. Well we got it going again slowly by feeding the yeasts, but were not able to ferment as dry as the 2008. So a wine with a little more residual sugar this year. It is balanced with good acidity, so is going to be a pretty smart wine.

In the vineyard the vines are racing along. It is interesting to see the difference in growth at our Blue Rock vineyard compared to the vines in the village. Blue Rock is warmer, no frosts and different soils. As a consequence the vines are quite a lot more advanced. That is good as it gives us insurance against a cold snap during the year and growth slowing down a bit

Maria, who you all know manages our office, took a day of last week to play in her golf club championships and won it! Need a bigger cup though, for all that work!

2009-09-23T15:25:00.002+12:00

Still the sun shines – long may it last! The vines are looking great.
Great sunsets too!

The bottling mentioned in the last post went really well, and even after allowing for bottling shock the wines look very promising. We have sent samples off to export customers so they can decide on future requirements. Their feedback is vital in helping plan for the future, in particular, when allocating the small volume premium wines.

Now the barrels that were emptied for the bottling run need to be cleaned before we put the rest of the 2009 vintage in them. So I thought it would be interesting to show you some shots of them being steam cleaned.

2009-09-14T21:32:00.006+12:00

Well, the fine weather continues. Another lovely day and the chardonnay is racing away. The driveway is now finished, and looks great.

It will certainly make the winery a more popular destination for functions and weddings; as well as simplifying road maintenance (no more potholes) and no more dust nuisance.

Carl was loading the wines for bottling today. He started filling the tanker at 4.00am, so he could have the wine at the bottling plant ready to start at 8.00am. It was all over by 6.00pm and the wine now all bottled and cartooned ready for sale. We will be getting the samples off to our export customers asap, so they can finalise their requirement.

Bud Burst 2009

2009-09-06T17:55:00.004+12:00

A stunning day here today - warm and dry. And, we have bud burst which is great, but about two weeks earlier than anticipated. With bud burst the cycle starts all over again – it is very exciting, and now we’ll watch over the vines as the grow foliage and then grapes!

Meantime, for the next 3 or 4 weeks, all we have to do is worry about frost! We had two severe ones yesterday and today, both reaching minus 5 degrees C, which had all the Martinborough wineries running their frost machines, flying helicopters, lighting their frost pots and anything else that they can do to avoid risk of frost damage. Fighting frost is an incredible task, and very interesting – if you want to know anything about it, drop us a note at info@murdoch-james.co.nz

We use water sprinklers on our Waiata block, and in the morning the frozen water is a beautiful sight. At our Blue Rock vineyard the sloping ground protects from frost. Why? Because frost behaves water, and so runs off sloping ground. We are very fortunate to have the only large vineyard in Martinborough planted on a hillside. Not having frost risk on our largest block is a very valuable benefit, and saves tens of thousand of $’s each year.

2009-08-18T12:36:00.002+12:00

Time to tell you that even busy winery owners need time off!

Leaving Wellington on a cold winter day (about 10 C) we flew to Fiji for 3 weeks holiday. It has been great, as the accompanying images show - warm days (25-30 C) and mild nights (20 C). Very pleasant indeed! Unbelievable as it may appear, it has been hard to leave work totally behind, even though we have a very capable team at the winery. I think when one owns a business, it is almost impossible to totally switch off. It is almost like having a child!!

While we have been away, lots of things have been happening at work; the bottling process mentioned in earlier posts, finalising the 2009 wines and site developments. Most important of these is the sealing of our long gravel drive. No more dust in the café or cellar door, no more mud and potholes in winter and easier access for winery visitors.

To be able to afford to do this after 10 years is a real thrill.

I will include some images of the work in a future post. This improvement will help us sell the winery and cafe for more weddings and functions, an important revenue item for us. We hosted over 20 wedding in each of the last 3 years - all of which were great fun for us and the wedding parties

2009-08-17T16:16:00.005+12:00

As mentioned in the last posting, while the final 2009 ferments are finishing in the winery, we are preparing to bottle the 2008 reds. That requires ordering cartons, screw-caps, labels and dividers from all our suppliers, then booking time at the busy local bottling plant. After that we finalise any blends, like our ‘2008 Martinborough Cabernets, and bring the wines up to the correct temperature for bottling. Like all liquids wine expands when warm and contracts when cold, so it is important to be in the right band to ensure the volume of wine put into each bottle is correct.

In 3 weeks we will bottle all the 2008 pinot Noirs (the Fraser barrel selection, the Blue Rock single vineyard wines, and the Martinborough regional blend) as well as the 2008 Cabernets. All require different labels, different bar codes, different size cartons and dividers, different colour closures, and different bottles; all of which is a huge logistical and planning exercise. Sometimes I wish we made just one wine like a lot of the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc producers – bottling time must be much easier for them!

Maria's Birthday!

2009-08-10T13:05:00.004+12:00

In the last week of September, we celebrated Maria’s birthday, as you can see from the accompanying image.

In a small company all members of the team need the skills, and willingness, to turn their hand to anything. Maria is no exception to the rule! She successfully runs our office and is the face of the company to the outside world – there is nothing she cannot do – tours, tasting, accounts, reception, and telephones are just a few. And, at vintage, she was responsible for the transport of grapes from the picking team to the press.

In the winery we are just about to blend the 2008 Fraser and Blue Rock Pinot Noirs, as well as the 2008 Cabernets (50:50 Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon). These wines will be released about 2 months after bottling, so they can recover from bottle shock. Bottle shock is the term given to wines just after they are bottled – the bottling line is hard on wines. Filters, pumps and vibrations all contribute to shaking the wine up and most take about 2 months to come back to their pre-bottling state.

For those following the saga of the stuck ferment, Carl has it working once more so we all are able to relax again, and look forward to bottling the whites on time!

2009-07-10T12:41:00.003+12:00

This week, Carl (our winemaker) is wrestling with something no winemaker likes to talk about; a ‘stuck’ ferment. By ‘stuck’ we mean a ferment that stops before the wine is fully fermented. While not a common problem, it is a serious one to manage. Getting a ferment started again is both time-consuming and difficult. Without going into a lot of technical detail, stuck and sluggish fermentations happen when the uptake of glucose and fructose in the ferment is reduced or stopped as a response of the yeasts to various stresses. What we now have to do is get it sorted out as soon as possible, to protect the quality of the wine. It means a lot of work and worry for Carl.

On the lighter side, I found this lovely image of our Consultant Winemaker (David) getting a potential new consumer interested in wine.

In the vineyard pruning is about 50% complete. We have a new team this year that are very diligent and conscientious; the quality of work is great and gets us in great shape for next year.

It was a very frosty morning today, starting at a crisp -3C, but now a beautiful sunny day. Frosts in winter cause us no concern, but they will in spring, as the grapes are starting to bud. We use all of wind machines, helicopters and frost pots to fight the frosts. Best of all though is using water control. It is very efficient and environmentally friendly, but what I like most is the result in the morning as the sun rises. Have a look at the accompanying image - truly beautiful - this is sunrise on a frosty morning at our Waiata block, in the Dry River region.

2009-06-25T18:01:00.003+12:00

I was thinking as I drafted this post that this is really where the story of ‘Birth of a Wine’ should have begun. We have started pruning this week and really what we do now will drive a lot of outcome. More canes tied down and/or longer canes will give more buds meaning more grapes.

But too many bunches and at the other end of the season the question is “Will that all that fruit get ripe?”

Lovely crisp and frosty nights at present means beautiful clear days and sunshine. This is good weather to prune in Tony tells me. Here's a shot of him pruning the Sauvignon Blanc. The next images show what he started with, and what the finished job looks like.

Once all the pruning is finished we’ll much the old canes back into the soil, and wait for bud-burst!

Some prose from Jill

2009-06-15T21:35:00.002+12:00

I found these musings from Jill in the winery yesterday. Lovely bit of prose that captures the spirit of vintage! Thought I would share with you.......

The highlight of the winery year - Easter - where
grapes have turned from green to red, the birds are ready
Easter fare for them despite bridal veils of drooping nets
over vines, gas guns booming, humans with guns on quad bikes.

This is the time when the radio hits max volume
in the winery getting the guys in the mood
First pick is preceded by weeks of winery housekeeping
Would their mothers see how these tanks do shine

The first day the grapes come in, the day is fine.
Gleaming press, spotless tanks, pumps all primed.
White bins come in full of Pinot gleaming the team move into action
full of enthusiasm this is the sum total of the years mowing, pruning, weeding.

To the beat of triple four time, a bit of rock and roll
The press whines and thumps and does it's thing, to Carl's time,
the pumps send the juice on it's way, through snaking hoses
The big grey fermenters fill up slowly, huge ingesters, and
yeasts start to glug and bubble away.

Not without a glitch or two, a torch dropped in a tank
settling down through the bubbling brew
it must have thought - ah heaven I see the light!
No help for it, can't have a battery stew
The pumps are manned, the tank is drained,
the torch retrieved, red treasure replaced, it's alright again.

More bins arrive, more grapes to crush, arms haul the bins
grapes, wasps, and purple mush, all grist to the team
who sift and pass the quality stock and toss the rubbish.
There is a bunch of cows down the road who wait for
this, stems and skin, discards in bins, they
recognise the tractor, are at the gate in anticipation.

Down the road, two weeks of toil is starting to show
early starts in the dark, leaving at two am shows the mark
on weary faces, tired arms, stumbling gait, the dogged way
they greet the next pile of bins. One cellar hand remarks
I have a new flat, one week down the track I don't know the colour
of it's outsides, I leave home and arrive back again in the dark.

Seventy five per cent is done, on its way to being wine.
The weather holds, the forecasts followed, rain or shine?
The tardy ones, Syrah working hard on the hill to ripen
basking in all day sun. Cab Franc, Cab Sauv, hang in
there too, among dying leaves, reluctant to go in The Bin.

But the will is still there, the radio still marks the time
Weary limbs respond, wind and sun dried faces shine from
The trailer for the umpteenth time as it comes down the hill.
The winery team look up from endless hosing, cleaning bins
and welcome them all in.

You and I know after years of vintage days,
the winery team live for this time, the whole year points
towards this time, when grapes come in, the quality
surveyed, the tons marked down, the tanks filled up,
barrels in the cellar wait, the vehicle is nature, cruel or kind
and the driver is of course - the wine.

Weddings and High Tech Vineyard Mowers!

2009-06-07T16:23:00.004+12:00

Sunday here at the vineyard - a lovely mid-winter day; cold and clear.

We have had a lot of people through over the weekend looking at using the vineyard as a wedding venue - we have a lovely facility that seats up to 120 people for functions and wedding. We hosted 24 weddings last year, so it is an important part of our business activity. The cafe also operates from September to May and that also brings a lot of visitors as well.

Other than the wedding couples, it has been pretty quiet though - not many customers for Cellar Door, so a chance to catch up on the administration.

We have been letting our export customers know about the new wines and getting them up-to-date with what to expect when they see them. It reminded me that one of the big expenses for a winery is samples. We have to send them all over the world to new and prospective customers, as well as to wine critics and reviewers. The freight costs are enormous, but it’s just an expense we have to bear. And, if someone tastes and loves a wine, then it can lead to increased business.

In the vineyard next week, we will be preparing for pruning, which should start in a week or two. Pruning is not the favourite job: cold weather and sharp secateurs are a combination that makes for lots of small cuts, and winter is never the best time to be working outside either!

We have had a local farmer put his sheep into the vineyard for winter grass and weed control. This avoids using the tractor to mow grass which would compact the soils, and also saves a lot of money in fuel costs. And, the sheep fertilise as they go! I call them my high-tech vineyard mowers!!

Just a few to go, then assembly

2009-05-31T11:23:00.005+12:00

Have not had a lot to report lately, as all is moving along quietly in the winery.

The ferments are all finished and just a few to press off then we can turn our mind to assembly of the 2008 reds. These have been in barrel for 12 months, and it’s time to decide which of the barrels will be used in which wine. It is a tiring process (over 200 barrels to taste) but vital in ensuring when the wine finally gets into bottle it is of a quality representative of each of our labels. One has to be ruthless in deciding if a barrel is good enough for our top wine. If not it needs to be declassified to one of the regional blends.

This is a process that has significant economic consequences as well. If one decides a barrel of (say) Blue Rock Pinot is not quite good enough for that label, and we use it in the Martinborough Pinot Noir blend, it means we have cut the value of that barrel by 35% (due to the latter wine selling for much less than the Blue Rock).

We have had a couple of weeks of terrible weather and are happy to be working inside. The se shots show the Dry River in flood, and if you look at the trees, you can see the wind is pretty strong too. There is a reason it is called the Dry River, as most of the year it does not run. When it does though it can be quite spectacular

First Red Pressings

2009-05-16T15:57:00.005+12:00

Saturday 16th May

It is a long time since I posted anything! Know I know why people told me, when I said I’ll post an update every day, that I would not be able to do it without a GREAT deal of discipline. Now I realise what they meant!!

That said, I’m back!

Today I’ve included some images of the red grapes after pressing. They have been through their ferments now and we need to press these off to extract the final juices and colour. The trick is to press gently so we do not press bitter elements out of any remaining pips or stalks. The first wines for the 2009 Pinot Noir are very encouraging, and we expect to press off the rest of the Pinot Noir next week. The Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc are not far behind, and then we can turn our minds to other things. But, while we have ferments going, we need to keep our full attention on them – it’s a bit like minding a very young child actually – late nights, the occasional mess to clean up and doing everything you need to keep them happy!

A very full winery!

2009-05-07T20:31:00.003+12:00

Have a look at the winery! It’s bursting at the seams. With all the fruit now harvested, all the work is inside, which is a challenge due to our space constraints. There are lots of ferments all underway, so every little bit of floor space is precious.

Now the ferments are all underway record keeping becomes very important, not only for tracking how the ferments are progressing, but also to be able to track a wine back from the bottle to it’s origins in the vineyard. Due to inappropriate behaviour by a small number of wineries, regulations are now in place to ensure what is in the bottle is what the consumer expects it to be. So, we must be able to show from what vineyard grapes were picked and what wine(s) was made from them. Then we need to track any blending, how/where wines are aged and finally confirm exactly what went into each bottle – and that the label accurately reflects that. Every vineyard in New Zealand is now subject to these regulations, and in fact is audited annually on them. Quite a bureaucratic process but unavoidable. We track everything on an in-house developed PC database.

Raining again today and the forecasts are not encouraging. I feel very sorry for vineyards with any grapes still hanging out. This is a view from our winery office window - not too hard to work up there!

Vinification overview

2009-05-05T20:55:00.004+12:00

Tuesday 5th May

When the grapes arrive at the winery, they are tipped into a crusher/de-stemmer which separates the grapes from the stems. The ideal is to do this in a way which does not crush stems or pips, as these are high in tannins which would result in very astringent wines.

What are essential are the pulp and the skins. While many people think that wine is made from the juice of grapes, in actual fact the skins are necessary not only to give colour to the red wines, but also add delicate flavours not available just from the juice. So, after de-stemming, the must (juice and skins) goes into the fermentation vats where we keep it cool to help extract colour before the ferment starts.

Once that occurs we pay careful attention to both the temperature and fall in sugar levels. With temperature the goal is to ferment between 25 and 30 degrees centigrade. Hotter ferments risk over-extracted wines, while at low temperatures yeasts do not function well. Where temperature needs to be adjusted we use heating/cooling coils to bring it back into balance.

Ferments usually take between 7 to 10 days, during which we plunge the cap (the skins which float to the surface of the wine) back into the wine to ensure optimum extraction of colour and flavour. In cases where the cap is really thick, we may have to resort to pumping the juice over the cap. The traditional name for this process is pigeage.

Currently we have numerous red ferments underway – Syrah, many of Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Each of them is monitored closely. We check the rate of progress several times daily, not only by measuring the rate at which sugars are being converted to alcohol, but also by ensuring the ferment is healthy and active.

Martinborough & Burgundy

2009-05-04T21:21:00.006+12:00

Monday 4th May

Today dawned cloudy and cold. I think the ‘Indian Summer’ we have been enjoying has come to an end. As the grapes are all in, we can relax, particularly as the weather forecast for the rest of the week is rain, rain, rain……

All the work from now on is in the winery, nursing our precious ferments through to a good conclusion. A nervous time as we monitor each individual ferment carefully – it’s a bit like a nervous parent watching over a new-born child – only we have 30 of them! Even ‘Octamom’ cannot top that!

Tomorrow I’ll get Carl to explain what we are looking for with so many different ferments underway, but this evening I thought I’d talk about why Martinborough, of all New Zealand’s Pinot Regions, comes closest to the home of the world’s classic Pinot Noirs – Burgundy.

The geological character of the fabled Côte-d’Or is made up of three key elements – limestone, clay and sand. The varying percentages of these elements is what makes wines from each part of Burgundy so different to another - compare a delicate Volnay from the south to a powerful Chambertin from the north.

Like Burgundy, Martinborough is fortunate in that it is made up of a number of regions, each with differing soils, ranging from ancient gravels through to ancient marine deposits or clays. These wonderful soils are partnered with a climate that mirrors Burgundy – hot summers, mild autumns and cold winters. As a consequence the geological variations present us with a range of wines similar to Burgundy. looking at each map, one cannot fail to notice the similarities - both regions stretch north to south, yet are quite narrow. Both contain regions that produce fine Pinot Noir at the pinnacle of the very best, yet at the same time, also produce wines that are less complex, but represent great value for money.

The various sites can give us wines like those from Chambolle-Musigny (good colour and body, firm, yet with a distinctive suppleness) while others (like the Dry River region where Murdoch James is located) make wines more like a Clos de Vouget (deep red in colour, harmonious, elegant with a long finish). In other areas we see wines that are more solidly structured with rich aromas and long finishes, that some compare to a fine Corton.

Even if one disagrees with my examples it is harder to deny that of all New Zealand’s Pinot Noir regions, only Martinborough has such a variety of sites, all producing world-class Pinot Noir, in such a small area.

Last grapes in today!

2009-05-03T13:56:00.005+12:00

Sunday 3rd May

Well we are finally there! All the grapes will be in by the end of today.

It is another beautiful autumn day to pick in; mild and dry with clear skies. The grapes and trees are now in full colour and the vistas are stunning, as you will see from the accompanying images.

The team is just harvesting the last 7 rows of Cabernet Sauvignon as I write this. Earlier we brought in the last of the Syrah and Cabernet Franc. The fruit is all in good condition and we harvested about 20 tonnes more than anticipated – it’s always good to get a little extra, so no complaints there.

The Syrah is particularly impressive, which for me is a real pleasure. When we first planted Syrah in Martinborough everyone thought I was crazy. Comments like “too cold to ripen it here”, “not enough heat units” and “the wines will lack structure” were not uncommon. After three gold medals and two trophies in the first 5 years we made this wine, we no longer get this negative feedback. However we remain one of only two Martinborough wineries producing Syrah, so for us it is an important point of difference. I’m not sure why other vineyards don’t try it, but that’s good for us! Like classic Hermitage, the wines are generous and well balanced, with strong aromas and a complete bouquet. They age very well and become smooth and mellow when they mature. This shot of Steve sorting the Syrah as it goes into the destemmer illustrates our efforts to ensure only the very best grapes make it into our wines

I am often asked the difference between Shiraz and Syrah. The most important point to make is they are actually just two different names for the same grape. As the name Shiraz tends to be used on Australian wines, while Syrah is used on wines from cooler climates, people think the name emerged in there, but that is not the case. The names were used interchangeable much further back in time and the history of the grape (and its name) makes for fascinating reading. Have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrah#The_name_Shiraz for a well-researched article on all this.

Regardless of the name, this is a variety that makes fantastic, food-friendly wines of great interest and longevity. In my mind, cool-climate Syrah challenges Pinot Noir as a wine of complexity and interest. I say ‘cool-climate’ to differentiate Syrah growing in these conditions from their less interesting cousins growing in hotter climates.

Vintage Wedding

2009-05-02T17:10:00.003+12:00

Saturday 2 May

Where has April gone?! We are now into May and time is flying by. As you can see from the date of this post I am finding it a challenge to update the site every day. With all that is happening time is a scarce commodity. We harvested the Syrah today and I thought in tomorrow’s post, I would look at the differences between Syrah and Shiraz.

Today though I’m on a different subject, as one of the nice things about owning a vineyard is the sheer variety of the things you do. We not only have the vineyard and winery but also a busy Cellar Door and a lovely café/restaurant. As a consequence we host a lot of weddings (over 20 just in the last year) – there was one yesterday and another is being celebrated as I type this. Here are some images from the wedding yesterday – a most amazing cake and a lovely room setting. I have also attached a few shots from earlier ones to give you a feel for how well our beautiful setting works for wedding couples.

Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir

2009-04-28T17:46:00.003+12:00

Tuesday 28th April

Well a few days have gone by and we are almost through harvest. Only the Cabernet Franc and the Syrah left to bring in now. We are still enjoying a marvellous run of fine weather, and the quality of fruit coming in remains high. All the Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris ferments are under way and looking good, and I’ll talk in future posts about how we manage the ferments for optimum quality. But today I thought I’d talk a little about these two varieties.

Pinot Noir is a red wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines produced predominantly from Pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French words for "pine" and "black" alluding to the varietals' tightly clustered dark purple pine cone-shaped bunches of fruit. Pinot Noir grapes are grown around the world, mostly in the cooler regions, but the grape is chiefly associated with the Burgundy region of France and, increasingly, New Zealand, where wines that match their Northern Hemisphere cousins are making their mark. Pinot Noir is widely considered to produce some of the finest wines in the world, but is a difficult variety to cultivate and transform into wine.

Pinot Gris is a white wine grape variety of the same species, Vitis vinifera. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir grape, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name ("gris" meaning "grey" in French) but the grape can have a brownish pink to black and even white appearance. The wines produced from this grape also vary in color from a deep golden yellow to copper and even a light shade of pink. The clone of Pinot Gris grown in Italy is known as Pinot Grigio.

Interestingly, the DNA profiles of both Pinot Gris and Blanc are identical to Pinot Noir. Pinot Gris is a bud sport of Pinot noir, presumably representing a somatic mutation in either the VvMYBA1 or VvMYBA2 genes that control grape colour. Pinot Blanc may represent a further mutation of Pinot Gris. (Source: Wikipaedia)

ANZAC Day - Very Special

2009-04-26T19:58:00.005+12:00

Saturday 26th April.

Last day in Brisbane and 26C – back to NZ tonight, and 10C!

Today is ANZAC Day where Aussies and Kiwis honour their war veterans. It is a wonderful tribute and each year attracts more and more participants, particularly young children who have started to develop an appreciation of the sacrifices made by previous generations on behalf of the current one. Watching old veterans parade proudly, and celebrate their contribution to their country's military successes, makes one wonder what we have lost as society becomes ever more self-centred.

All shops are closed until 1.00pm today, and it is wonderful to see how retailers respect this.

After lunch though it was back to work and several store calls to be made before heading to the airport to catch the flight home. I have attached images of some of the Vintage Cellars and First Choice stores I called on today. I am always impressed with the calibre of the staff, their commitment to customer service, and their keen interest in wine. I could not have my wines sold by anyone better and I’m thrilled to work with them all. As consumers you should have great confidence their advice will give you not only the wine you want, but also value for money. Try some of their more interesting recommendations sometime too!

Tomorrow will be back to hands-on reporting of our 2009 vintage.

Hard work in the Australian sun!

2009-04-24T11:46:00.009+12:00

Thursday 23 April

Yesterday I promised a view of the hard conditions I am working under as I travel round Australia selling our wines. This is to the left. I want you to realize that, while it is very difficult working in these hot, dry and sunny conditions, I do want you to not feel sorry for me.

In the evening we hosted a Winemakers dinner at the Forth Floor restaurant in Mooloolaba – as you see from the photographs, a stunning setting in which to present our wines. The dinner was organised by Brett who manages the local Vintage Cellars fine wine store. This is a lovely store where Brett and Dana dispense excellent wine advice to their customers

The meal comprised four courses during which we tasted 8 wines. This included 2 Italian and 2 New Zealand Pinot Gris, one of which was the MJE 2008 ‘Wairarapa’ Pinot Gris and it compared extremely well with all the other examples. Of particular interest was the wide range of styles – reinforcing to me that fact that, like Pinot Noir, this is a grape that very much reflects the environment in which it grows. Then we moved on to comparing the Murdoch James ‘Martinborough’ Pinot Noir with the ‘Blue Rock’ Pinot Noir, followed by the "Saleyards 'Syrah. We assessed the three reds against a wonderful Venison dish. Then we finished with a Beaumes de Venise partnered with a pear flan. Just a magic combination.

Dinners like this are a wonderful opportunity for winemakers to meet with consumers. It presents an ideal environment for you in which to learn what the winemaker is striving to achieve in each of his or her wines, and to discuss this with them. Most of all though they are always most enjoyable evenings spent sharing good food and wine with people who appreciate them. You should always take advantage any time an opportunity to attend one arises!

Tomorrow I'm visiting a lot of Vintage Cellars stores in Brisbane, so I'll include a bit of commentary on the retail side of our business in the next posting. Meantime, here are a couple of shots of the Vintage Cellars store in Mooloolaba, and of Dana who was dispensing expert advice to her customers during my visit. Spot the MJE Pinot Noir on the shelf!

Picking the Waiata Block today

2009-04-23T10:12:00.005+12:00

Tuesday 21 April

Apologies to those of you who are wondering why my Tuesday post is overdue, but I’m travelling for 3 days in Australia promoting our wines. I may send you a post from the Gold Coast tomorrow, just to make those in cooler climates envious!!

Today I thought I would show you past of our quality control process. Everyone makes statements like “we only use the best fruit”. Sometimes when I taste some commercial wines, I really wonder if that is true. Well I can tell you at Murdoch James it is very true. In an earlier post I talked about how crucial it is that the picking team only harvests fruit of a high standard. I also talked about why machine harvesting will never give a winery an opportunity to make the very best wines.

For us though, that is not enough. We also sort one last time what comes in at the winery door and, as you will see from the photos, reject even more fruit at that point - maybe because it is unripe or diseased. Whatever the reason, we are convinced that this rigorous approach is essential to making world-class wines

What Julia and Kyrie are sorting in this case is Pinot Noir from one of our cooler blocks where not all the fruit got ripe. As you can see every bunch gets inspected before going into the destemmer. By my estimation we probably threw away about 10% of the fruit that came in, and probably left another 10% unpicked. That’s a lot of forgone bottles, and has a big economic impact, but unavoidable in making premium boutique wines. The two photos below are of some of the reject fruit.

Vineyard Soil Profiles

2009-04-20T12:56:00.005+12:00

Monday 20th April

Well a rainy day today at last, not heavy, but drizzly. It is forecast to pass quite quickly, then we are back into fine, dry conditions again. The drive into the vineyard is looking beautiful in full autumn colour now. As not a lot is happening with the harvest, I thought it would be good to talk a bit about our soils at our vineyard.

It has often been said that the soils and climate of Martinborough are very similar to that of the world’s greatest Pinot Noir vineyards; being the plantings of the Côte d’Or, in Burgundy. While it is true the climate is similar, the soils in most of Martinborough have much more in common with the gravely soils of Bordeaux, than the Côte d’Or.

10 kilometres south of Martinborough, in the Dry River region, it is a different story. Murdoch James Estate’s “Blue Rock” vineyard exhibits characters much closer to Burgundy. While retaining the low rainfall necessary to grow premium grapes, the soils here are quite different to the rest of Martinborough. On close scrutiny, the soil at “Blue Rock” has much more in common with those at Domaine Romanee Conti, Richbourg, and La Tache. They are free draining, limestone-based soils that give an added element of opulent richness and ‘flesh’ to the wines made from grapes grown on them.

For those interested in more detail, at Blue Rock the various blocks have slightly different characteristics. The Blue rock vineyard sits on five river terraces, four of which are elevated. All the elevated ones are predominately north facing. However there are subtle and interesting differences in the soil structure of each block.

1. Lower Flats Block: 1 ha, located on an old riverbed with very shallow loam soils over gravel beds.

2. Nelson Block: Lower First Terrace, 6.6ha - Sloping to the north, with moderate silt loam soils over gravels

3. Pipers Block: Back First Terrace, 2.85ha - Sloping to the northeast with moderate silt loam soils over gravels

3. Jims Block: Second Terrace, 3.07ha - Sloping north with deep silt loam soils over very deep gravels

4. Highfold: Third Terrace, 6.33ha - Sloping direct north contour, with deep silt loam soils with very deep gravels, and a high lime content.

Other observations:
• All soil pits dug on the property show deep silts with high mineral and lime content over varied gravel depths.
• Past profile holes have shown grape vine roots penetrating over 3 meters down.
• At this depth, they are still approximately 5mm thick.
• Machinery use is restricted in winter to avoid soil compaction.
• Summer irrigation is used on the sloping blocks

A stunning weekend

2009-04-19T23:16:00.007+12:00

Sunday 19th April

Well, another 2 days full on - again absolutely stunning weather on both Saturday and Sunday so the team are picking in great conditions, and continue to bring in excellent grapes. The winery is now starting to bulge at the seams as all the fermenters are filling up and floor space is at a premium. We are juggling Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir at present and needed some extra help in the winery so that the winery team can get some sleep.

Steve has come in from the vineyard, and we are lucky that an experienced Angela was able to join us – while her day job is olive oil, she has worked in wineries as far away as California – so right from the time she arrived she was in up to her knees in wine. As you will see from the photos, we are needing to jump into the big ferments to break up the hard caps formed by grapes floating on the surface of the wine - lucky ferments are warm. There are some great images of Angela hard at work!

Interestingly, breaking the cap this way is gentler on the grapes than mechanical processes. There is logic in what the old winemakers used to do!

We are now well past the halfway point – just a little more Pinot to come in, then small crops of Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay and Syrah. We are really thrilled with the quality of the latter, and the warm autumn is ‘polishing’ the fruit to perfection. We have had a great team of pickers this year. All locals, some are real characters, but the most important thing is their experience, which means they only harvest the best grapes. This is a side of vintage often overlooked, but without good pickers, it is hard to keep the standards up. They can make a great deal of difference.

Long Day

2009-04-17T11:06:00.007+12:00

Friday 17th April

Still the weather is holding up, but there is a forecast for showers over the weekend, so we are trying to speed up the picking. Last night (Thursday) we picked until about 10.30pm (yes at night). No fancy floodlights, so we had to park the cars and trucks with their headlights shining down the rows. It was all quite surreal however the task was accomplished and the entire River Flats block was harvested before everyone went home. Then the winery team had to press through to the early hours this morning, with Chinese takeaways for a late dinner!

Slightly over half the crop is in now so the vineyard team are on the downhill slope while the pressure on the winery is building up. The ferments we have underway so far are progressing really well, with no problems. We did have one small hiccup this morning when one of the team dropped his torch into the Sauvignon Blanc juice ($%%#@$!). So we had to empty the tank (10,000 litres!) and recover the torch. Some bright spark did suggest we could leave it in so we could make a wine with a light finish……………

Today’s images are of Kyri pumping the Sauvignon Blanc into the balloon press for the crush of the day, of Carl trying to break through the thick cap on a big 5 tonne ferment (not a pretty sight, but too thick to use our normal plunger), and of Cliff balancing the full picking bins on the back of the ute as Steve drives them across to the winery.

Hand Harvesting

2009-04-16T18:08:00.003+12:00

Wednesday 16th April

Another beautiful day – will it last? We are all hoping so. We harvested Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc today, so I have attached images of the team picking the grapes, as well as images of the fruit and the processing. I hope you find it interesting. There are more images in our website gallery too. Click on this link: http://www.murdochjames.co.nz/gallery/simpleviewer/index.html

We pick everything by hand, and train the team to only collect the best fruit. Anything with mildew or unripe fruit is left behind for the birds (did you know one green grape in 100 will have an impact on the taste of the final wine!). Only with the best fruit can you hope to make world class wine. That’s why we never use a mechanical harvester. They are like big vacuum cleaners that suck everything up; ripe, unripe and diseased, together with bits of leaf and stalks. Then we sort one more time at the winery before the fruit goes into the press. There is a great image of the Sauvignon Blanc being gently pressed below

We were thrilled with the quality of the Sauvignon Blanc this year, and were also fortunate to have a small part of the crop which developed botrytis. Known as the 'Noble Rot' this mould shrivels the berries and concentrates that flavour, so we have decided to keep that fruit separate and a desert wine which we will call 'Noble Sauvignon'.

The fruit is looking great and the weather perfect!

2009-04-15T15:28:00.001+12:00

Tuesday 14th April

Well underway now. We have had a dream run! All of Sunday through to today have been dry and mild - one of the reasons Martinborough is regarded as one of the best, if not the very best, of New Zealand's vineyard areas. The grapes have been coming in in great condition and we are thrilled at the prospect of being able to work with such a high level of quality. A great deal of credit must go to the vineyard team of Steve, Cliff and Nerissa for seeing everything through to a great position. I was going to say conclusion, but while maybe it is for the vineyard, it just the beginning for the winery! So far the winemaking days are getting longer and longer. Yesterday was from 7.00am through to 1.00am the next day, as we processed two large pressings of Pinot Gris, while starting 5 Pinot Noir ferments. We ferment each clone of Pinot Noir separately, so there are lots of small ferments happening all over the winery floor area. Today I have posted some images of the fruit coming in and the start of processing. Tomorrow I'll have a look at the team in the vineyard more closely and explain all the steps they take to ensure we only harvest absolutely top quality wine

Spring Moon Image

2009-04-14T23:17:00.001+12:00

Saturday 11 April 2009.

The day dawned clear and we were off. A full moon in the morning sky brought the promise of a wonderful harvest, and a bright, clear day. A great team of pickers joined our full time staff and the grapes started to come in. At first, just a trickle, but as the day wore on the bins started to pile up, and we had our first ferment start - all very exciting

Ready to go!

2009-04-14T22:05:00.001+12:00

8th April 2009

The key thing with vintage is to be ready in time for harvest, and above we see Sam, Kyri, Maria and Carl relaxing after the press was given a spring clean!

But, while the enthusiasm to get going is ever present, we cannot do anything when the elements rule otherwise. This year we decided that harvest would commence on Thursday 9 April, so the guys got to work on the tanks and the press. They had it gleaming all ready to go late Wednesday, so after a beer they headed off home for an early night and to get ready for the next day, which unfortunately dawned grey and wet, so no harvesting was possible

Next day was Easter Friday, so a day off for all, then Saturday 11 dawned dry and clear and we were off! Keep a watch on our web picture gallery as we work through the year for a lot more images than we can ever post on our blog (http://www.murdochjames.co.nz/gallery/simpleviewer/index.html)

Birth of a Wine

2009-04-14T17:06:00.000+12:00

7th April 2009

I used to dream of owning my own vineyard while I sat in my Melbourne office surrounded by paperwork. I loved my job but always yearned for the chance to be involved in the magic process called winemaking. This yearning first started when I was at Auckland University and met Bruce Collard of Collard Wines, one of the first New Zealand wineries to focus on classic varietal wines. On occasions I would visit the winery with Bruce and developed a love for good wine; first as a consumer, but then I got thinking about actually making the this magic thing called wine!
Luckily I did not think about the hard work and costs to come! So, over the years while I was living in Australia I thought more and more about it until, with the encouragement of my wife Jill, we purchased our first vineyard in 1986. This was just a small 2 hectare block in the heart of Martinborough which has come to be regarded as the home of premium New Zealand Pinot Noir. From that humble beginning, we now have over 25 hectares of our own and several fantastic growers who supply us with great fruit. Our winery is located at our Blue Rock vineyard, which we purchased in September 1998. The winery is located in a stunning setting on the banks of the Dry River where we also have a café and our cellar door.
We are just about to start our 10th vintage and I started thinking about all the highs and lows of the last 10 years and felt it was a pity that we had not shared that with those who love our wines.
Hence this page on our website! We are going to start a diary of events at Murdoch James (www.murdochjames.co.nz) starting with the first pick of grapes for the 2009 Vintage. Log on from time to time and follow with us the joy (and sometimes the frustration) of owning a vineyard. We will post candid comments about events and our experiences as we wrestle with the challenges of making ever better wines year after year, in partnership with Mother Nature.
We are a small family owned that prides itself in making boutique wines that will appeal to wine lovers who have discerning tastes and a passion for the highest quality. In other words, these are not every-day high volume wine labels that would typically cater to the mass market.
Share Vintage 2009 and the rest of the year with us, and feel free to make contact and send encouragement or ask questions! We love to be in contact with folk who enjoy fine wine.
In vino veritas! Roger Fraser, co-owner, Murdoch James Estate