Plucking!

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

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!

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!

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

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

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.