Winery dogs are so last year. The ultimate winery accessory this season is…a hen.
In a strange turn of events, one of the cellar hands at Jackson Estate turned up for his shift with his pet hen, Beaker, which clucked around the grape press to pose for a few photos.
There have been two ‘Winery Dogs’ books published already, and I’m sure there’s room for spin offs.
If there’s time for hens then things must be slowing down in the winery. Indeed, all the fruit is in the cellar. Those working the graveyard shift will return to day walking next week and the staff’s free hot lunches will come to an end (much to their disappointment).
The last batch of Sauvignon Blanc for the Grey Ghost is waiting for a wild fermentation to kick in, the barrel-fermented Chardonnay is almost dry, and the first batch of Pinot Noir, which arrived at the end of March is about to come off its skins after extended maceration. Something’s going on in most of the tanks but there’s a sense of calm after the storm (or is that exhaustion?) in the winery.
Check out my latest interview with John Stichbury, founder of Jackson Estate on why Marlborough needs to tighten up its labelling laws.
I have never seen 3000 empty cartons of milk in a vineyard but I had to believe my eyes this morning at Jackson Estate’s newly-planted Pinot Noir site.
Viticulturalist Geoff and I headed down to one of its Lower Waihope vineyards this morning and there were the So Good Soya Lite milk cartons in their new life as vine guards, stopping rabbits from getting their hungry paws on them. Best of all, they’re biodegradable.
The naughty rabbits and hares have been getting stuck into the irrigation lines too after a remarkably dry summer. “They must have been thirsty,” said Geoff. It’s more spurt than drip irrigation where those rabbits have been chewing the pipes, giving the vineyard team even more work to do.
How to solve it? Rabbit stew. I’m sure it would go lovely with a glass of Pinot. Geoff likes his slow cooked with duck – or if you need a good recipe for Thai chicken rice, he’s your man.
Back in the winery, all the Pinot Noir is now harvested. The final parcel has come in and there’s just a little Sauvignon Blanc to follow. There’s a chance Jackson will make a botrytised Riesling for the first time in four years plus its first-ever botrytised Chardonnay, so we’ll probably head out into the vineyard to see how that’s going later in the week.
I’ve been enjoying stirring the lees of the Shelter Belt Chardonnay again today and am finding it quite therapeutic: 15 stirs forward, 15 stirs back, breathe (not too deeply or you’ll get woozy from the CO2), and on to the next barrel. Who needs yoga when you’ve got wine?
Yields in Marlborough will be down significantly in 2010, if things at Jackson Estate are anything to go by. The crop here is down 25-30% on initial estimates. Ask around the region and the story seems to be the same.
A really cool spring limited the potential crop size and with little rain since mid-January, the average bunch is much smaller than expected. Geoff Woollcombe, chief viticulturalist at Jackson, explained that Sauvignon Blanc bunches were picked at around 150 grams last year and just 110g this year; it’s a similar story for Pinot Noir, falling from the usual 120g per bunch to less than 100g.
But it seems good things do come in small packages: the Pinot Noir heading into the destemmer looked really healthy, and they were tasty. Unfortunately, there were a few pesky earwigs, which made their way from the bunches and down my top: it was certainly a safer place than the destemmer.
The small crop has brought vintage ahead of estimates and the winery should finish picking this week: a fortnight ahead of 2009.
Predictions are that the 2011 harvest will be small again: buds destined for next year’s cane have been hit by the cold spring.
The word on Blenheim’s streets is that nature could resolve the region’s oversupply situation in the next 18 months in Marlborough.
I swore I would never work in a cellar again after a terrible vintage experience in Australia in 2006. Rose-tinted glasses firmly on, I’ve agreed to do a week’s work at Jackson Estate in Marlborough
Ominously the booking reference code for my flight to Marlborough read “HEL” – the omens could have been better.
Luckily Jackson’s winemaker and the cellar boys have eased me in gently today. I’ve plunged a few tanks of Pinot Noir: a great workout for both arms and shoulders. The only downside was wearing the safety harness to prevent any falls into the open vats – it’s remarkably similar to wearing a baby bouncer. Not a great look but it gave the American cellar hand a good laugh.
However, I have managed to redeem myself by borrowing a rather fetching pair of leopard print wellies from the owners of Jackson. Who said cellar work can’t be glamorous?
The day started off at 7 a.m. in the vineyards with their band of Thai pickers. It was a warm and sunny morning but the Thai team were rugged up for all eventualities with balaclavas, gilets and hats. Nevertheless they picked at an impressive clip and we were putting the fruit into the destemmer (and grape juice in my eyes – nasty stuff) and off to the tank within hours.
For the next week, I’ll be reporting every day from Jackson, giving you the inside track on the 2010 vintage and the latest happenings in Marlborough with interviews and videos.
NB: This blog can also be read at Harpers throughout the week
New Zealand has become renowned for its Pinot Noir. There are some great examples out there – Felton Road and Ata Rangi are the true greats while Waitaki Pinot from Ostler and Valli, and Pyramid Valley are up there in my opinion. But there is a lot of expensive dross.
I was invited to judge for tizwine.com yesterday and while I can’t reveal the outcome, after almost 60 Pinot Noirs, I felt depressed. Admittedly we were tasting the 2008 vintage, which wasn’t great by any means but my God they were boring.
Too many ‘blah’ wines as one of my fellow judges aptly put it: “lacklustre”, “soft”, “falls away on the finish”, note after note read. And a rather strange metallic note ran through one of the flights. If you’re a winemaker and can tell me why, we judges would be interested to know. Of course, there were a few good wines but nothing that would suggest New Zealand is renowned globally for its Pinot Noir.
Perhaps it was the selection that was sent in but there are clearly major improvements needed to bring the general standard up. And the prices that are being asked for them? The phrase ‘daylight robbery’ springs to mind.
