Waimea Brands Blog

Since they were babies James and Greer have been in and around the winery, riding up on the harvester with their Poppa, driving around the vineyard in the weekends checking on things with Mum and Dad and developing a keen interest in what goes on.  For James this year more than ever, the technicalities of how wine is made have kept his mind busy and given Trudy our winemaker a ‘project’.  Most recently she has had James working on his maths to help her figure out how to fit all the wine in tanks.

Living on a vineyard means they constantly see the changes of the season and how it affects the vines.  This year when the vines were laden with delicious ripe fruit, if I couldn’t find the kids I knew where to go and look – they were camouflaged under the nets munching away on grapes!  They give the birds a run for their money and we’ve had a permanently sticky door handle for weeks - sorry visitors!

Early on in the season we got some pictures in the winery when we came to see Ben as the kids were missing him.  We went round some of the tanks which had just been filled with juice.  James was hogging the glass – we were all lucky to get a look in as he gave us a run down on which tanks had the best flavours and gave some awesome descriptives of his favourite varieties.

I suspect time is going to fly by and suddenly he will have an ‘official’ job somewhere in the winery at harvest time…

We had a great review just recently from Wine Writer Raymond Chan. 

Waimea Estates Shows Breadth and Depth

A sign of great resource, skills and care is quality in all tiers of a wine producers’ output across a wide range of varieties.  Only those that are fully committed to the best, can achieve this and few realise the aim.  Waimea Estates, in Nelson is one winery that seems to be able to do this.  The Bolitho family clearly possesses outstanding vineyards, with some 140 ha, managed by Ben Bolitho, and the fruit is expertly handled by winemaker Trudy Sheild.  Wines from the ‘Waimea Estates’ range regularly figure among the winners at wine shows, and the secondary ‘Spinyback’ brand are also often in the ranks as gold medal winners.  Even the third tier ‘Takutai’ wines capture top awards.  Clearly the Waimea Estates team make their range differentiation decisions with style as a major consideration, as the fruit quality seems very high in all the levels of the wines!  Here are a diverse set of new release ‘Waimea Estates’ and tertiary level ‘Takutai’ wines reviewed.  www.waimeabrands.com

Takutai Nelson Riesling 2009  ****

Bright pale straw-yellow with lemon-green hues, pale on edge.  The bouquet is very fine and elegant, showing lime and lemon aromas integrated with subtle secondary notes of honey and toast.  Medium-dry, bright and juicy, lemon and lime fruit flavours form a core and line through the palate with depth and concentration.  The acidity is in good balance, providing good liveliness.  A delicate textural thread grows and leads to a crisp, dry finish with flavours of thirst-quenching lemonade.  Classical with its lime and lemon flavours, this is just beginning to show some development and a dry textures.  Match with seafood over the next 3+ years.  Fruit from the ‘Hunter’ vineyard on the Waimea Plains, cool-fermented to 12.5% alc. and 10.8 g/L rs.  17.0/20  Apr 2012  RRP $12.50

Takutai Nelson Pinot Gris 2009  ****

Fruit from the ‘Hunter’ vineyard on the Waimea Plains, col-fermented in stainless-steel to 14.0% alc. and 6.4 g/L rs.  Bright straw-yellow colour with light golden hues.  The nose is softly fresh with exotic floral, ripe pear and stonefruit aromas, along with savoury, secondary nuances of earth and flint.  Off-dry to taste, rich and deep flavours of ripe yellow stonefruits fill the palate and flow with smooth textures, enlivened by good acidity.  Some secondary nuances emerge, as well as a little alcohol warmth, adding to the generous mouthfeel and length.  This is a ripe and broader Pinot Gris with developing flavour interest.  Match with Middle Eastern cuisine over the next 2-3 years.  17.5/20  Apr 2012  RRP $12.50

Takutai Nelson Chardonnay 2009  ****

Clones Mendoza, 95, 2/23 and 15 from the Waimea Plains stainless-steel fermented with a small portion in oak with high solids to 13.8% alc., the wine given batonnage for several months.  Bright, light lemon-hued straw-gold colour, this has a full and broad nose of ripe yellow stonefruits with a complex buttery and flinty amalgam.  Full-bodied, the palate is full, plump and packed with ripe stonefruit and citrus flavours along with buttery and savoury, nutty secondary notes.  This is up-front and juicy, with excellent breadth, but lively from excellent acidity, which continues to a flinty, nutty finish.  This is a flavoursome and interesting Chardonnay with the breadth to match grilled and roasted poultry and pork dishes over the next 3 years.  17.5/20  Apr 2012  RRP $12.50

Takutai Nelson Pinot Noir 2011  ***

Light ruby-red colour with slight purple hues, pale on rim.  The bouquet is light with red cherry, strawberry and fresh herb aromas, simply expressed.  A light-bodied wine, this has light strawberry and cherry fruit flavours intermingling with herbal notes.  The acidity is elevated and the extraction modest, allowing the alcohol to show, and resulting in a light, crisp finish.  This is a light, fresh and uncomplicated Pinot Noir with modest ripeness.  Serve with antipasto and firm flesh seafood over the next 2 years.  Multi-clone and vineyard selection, the fruit full-destemmed and fermented to 13.7% alc. the wine given wood influence equivalent to 20% new oak.  15.5+/20  Apr 2012  RRP $12.50

Waimea Estates Nelson Gruner Veltliner 2011 ***

The second release of a Gruner Veltliner from Waimea Esates, the fruit from the ‘Railway Reserve’ section of the ‘Annabrook‘ vineyard, cool-fermented to 13.5% alc. and 3.3 g/L rs.  Pale straw-yellow colour with light green-golden hues, pale on edge.  This has a fresh, bright and lively aromatic nose of spicy yellow floral and tropical fruits, along with notes of herbs and minerals.  Dry to taste and light in weight, this is crisply presented with light exotic herb, stonefruit and floral flavours.  The wine has a soft lusciousness and gently fresh acidity, and the finish has delicate, lingering nuances.  This is an elegant and pretty, crisp Gruner Veltliner with delicately exotic flavours.  Match with Thai, Japanese and Vietnamese cuisine over the next 2 years.  16.5/20  Apr 2012  RRP $25.00

Waimea Estates Nelson Pinot Gris 2011  *****

Brilliant, pale straw-yellow colour, pale on rim.  This is very tight, fine and elegant on bouquet with white floral and citrus fruits, revealing nuances of tropical fruits with detail and delicacy.  Medium-dry, this is beautifully refined with subtle pear, white floral and honey flavours forming an elegant core with excellent concentration.  The mouthfeel is very smooth, near seamless, and there is a building generosity and richness, leading to a long finish with real presence.  This is a classy, delicate Pinot Gris with the potential to unfold more flavours and develop greater character over the next 3-4+ years.  Serve with antipasto, tapas, seafood and poultry.  Fruit primarily from the ‘Hope’ block on the Waimea Plains fermented to 14.4% alc. and 8.5 g/L rs, the wine given 4 months batonnage.  18.5/20  Apr 2012  RRP $23.00

Waimea Estates ‘Trev’s Red’ Nelson 2011  ****

The second release of a ‘Trev’s Red’, a tribute to patriarch Trevor Bolitho, this being 61% Cabernet Franc, 34% Syrah and 5% Viognier from the ‘Lansdowne’ and ‘Hope’ vineyards on the Waimea Plains, co-fermented to 13.9% alc., the wine aged 10 months in new and seasoned French and American oak barrels.  Bright, even, purple-hued ruby-red colour.  The nose is full with a complex amalgam of savoury red fruits lifted with floral perfumes along with herbal elements and coffee-like oak char.  Medium-full bodied, the palate is lush and juicy with bright redcurrant fruit, fresh herbs, spicy oak, white pepper and floral nuances.  Fresh, racy acidity enlivens the palate providing tension, and the tannin extraction is modest, resulting in a soft, supple mouthfeel.  This is a lush, juicy and very approachable wine to serve with pasta, pizza and barbecued food over the next 2-3+ years.  17.0/20  Apr2012  RRP $25.00

Waimea Estates Nelson Merlot/Malbec 2008  ****

Ruby-red colour with garnet hues, lighter on edge.  This is elegant and fine on bouquet, quite delicate and restrained, showing dusty red berry fruit aromas with dried herb and subtle secondary interest.  Medium-bodied, this has a core of red berry fruits with oak spices and subtle dried herb notes that builds with richness.  The tannins are extremely fine and the palate is silky smooth in texture.  Good acidity is present for balance and the wine has a sustained finish with savoury fruit, and cedary, spicy oak.  This is an elegant and fine-textured red with subtlety and secondary interest appearing.  Match with roasted red meats and hard cheeses over the next 3-4+ years.  67% Merlot from Kina Peninsula, 5% ‘Railway Reserve’ Merlot, and 28% Malbec from the ‘Hope’ block on the Waimea Plains, fermented to 13.0% alc., the Merlot aged in new and seasoned American oak, the Malbec in 1 y.o. French barrels, for 11 months, then blended.  17.5/20  Apr 2012  RRP $25.00

Trev and Rob had a bit of a buzz recently when some old acquaintances of theirs emailed.  They first met Bradley and Robert in the far north some years ago and they then moved to Nelson to experience life in a local vineyard and winery for a season and spent good times relaxing together.

 Robert felt inclined to write and tell us about a serendipitous experience that they recently had out at a horse racing track – in Hot Springs, Arkansas Memphis.  Celebrating their uncles 70^th birthday they decided to get into the spirit of the event and wagered on an event they knew nothing about.

At the 4^th race they perused the line-up of horses participating and immediately spotted #6 Waimea Canyon.  As the race was almost on Robert ran to the betting window to lay down a $20 bid for Waimea Canyon to win, a complete guess in honour of old friends.

They watch gob-smacked as Waimea Canyon rounded the 4^th turn galloping its heart out and passing horses all around it.  Next thing you know the race was taken out by Waimea Canyon and turns out there had been 35-1 odds.  A $20 bet paid out $775!

Bradley and Robert plan to return to NZ someday with their two wee children and will be taking Trev and Rob out for dinner!

Last week we were delighted to hear Sue Courtney on Radio Live talking about our Classic Riesling 2009 – a wine she clearly loves and a regular in our chiller at home too.  Read what Sue had to say about our multi-gold winning wine below:

Sue Courtney’s blog of vinous ramblings
wine, food & other vinous topics from New Zealand
Mar 21st 2012

Wine Me Up Wednesday: Waimea Classic Riesling 2009

 When the gold medal winners from the Royal Easter Show Wine Awards were announced in February, one wine caught my attention. Waimea Classic Riesling 2009 from Nelson had just won its 6th gold medal in open competition. Now a gold medal award is something every wine producer who enters a wine show aspires to, and a gold medal wine is something to celebrate. However sometimes one gold medal is all they will ever receive, despite entering show after show after show. But six gold medals shows consistency – both from the classiness of the wine and the consistency of judging panels. Just look at these results for this Waimea -

Gold Medal Royal Easter Show Wine Awards 2012
Gold Medal Royal Easter Show Wine Awards 2011
Gold Medal Bragato Wine Awards 2011
Gold Medal Air NZ Wine Awards 2010
Gold Medal Air NZ International Wine Show 2010
Gold Medal & Trophy International Aromatic Wine Competition 2010

I love this Riesling. It’s juicy and mouthwatering with honeysuckle, lime and tropical fruit aromas and an array of tropical fruit and citrus flavours with a touch of ginger and honey. It’s just off dry with the sweetness (14.2 g/l rs) beautifully balancing the nervy (8.4 g/l) acidity and the finish is fresh and long.  And the alcohol at 12% is moderate too. So I immediately contacted Martin Carrington At Waimea Brands to find out the wine’s availability.

“Heh heh how many hundred cases would you like,” he replied.
“Great distribution throughout the country too,” he added.
It’s $18-$20, but can be down to $15 on promotions.

So why is a wine that has so many awards still available for sale?

The answer, I fear, is because it is Riesling. It’s misunderstood in a country where Sauvignon Blanc reigns as the white wine queen. And the reason it’s misunderstood is because people do not know what they are going to get.

Grab a Clare Valley Riesling off the shelf and you know it will be dry. Similarly with a Riesling from Alsace. With a German Riesling you will get some idea from the way it is labelled, eg Kabinett, Spatlese, QBA, the lower levels light and floral with increasing levels of sweetness.

Where do New Zealand’s Riesling sit? Well they could be anywhere in the spectrum – bone dry like a Clare Valley wine or light, floral and sweet with low alcohol, like from the Mosel. But the Classic Rieslings are usually right bang in the middle – moderate sugar to balance the nervy acidity with juicy, mouthwatering, vibrant flavours. 

A group of Riesling producers have introduced the Riesling Taste Profile, which is used as a graphic representation on the back label to show where the perceived taste is on a dry – medium – sweet scale. Unfortunately it’s only been adopted by about half a dozen producers in New Zealand. So I say if you are not sure about what Riesling to buy, look for one with ‘Classic’ on the label. If it’s like the Waimea Classic Riesling 2009, it will be sure to please.

Riesling is also one of the most magnificent wines to cellar. It’s the acidity that gives it longevity. They become toasty and hedonistic with time.

A podcast of today’s Radio Live program can be heard on the Radio Live website’s 7 Day Catch Up service until the end of Tuesday 27th March, New Zealand Daylight Time. Here’s the link: http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Audio.aspx. Choose Wednesday (21/03) Mar 21 2012 15.45. I start after the adverts have finished, about 7 minutes through.

It turns out we have a bit of a resident artist.

There was a surprise waiting in the winery this week on Trudy’s return from a week away.  Toby had been busy with his paints and after making an offer to Trudy to paint the forklift and get it looking snazzy again she had said ‘paint some flames on it’…so, he quite literally did.

It looks amazing and I bet there will be some preferences now to driving that one rather than the boring brown forklift.

He also did some maintenance on our pumps and we have half a rainbow of them
lined up at present – red, pink, yellow and orange.  They look awesome too and
won’t be hard to spot in our busy cellars.

Our foreign contingent this year may wonder what they have come across but a happy winery is a productive winery and we quite like having our own style.

2012 Pinot Noir in our Packhouse Block

It’s full noise into our busy time now.  We’ve been putting nets on for the last 10 days or so and today we have got 3 vehicles out in the field.  Phoebe and Darryl are operating a motorbike each and applying side netting which will soon be clipped up to keep out birds.  Nathan, Steve and Jonty are operating the tractor to put out our big multi-row nets.  These huge nets cover 6 rows at a time.  Once all our multi-rows are out they will move onto overhead nets.

Vintage is looking to be a late one this year, we are currently 10 or so days behind our usual ripening time-frame having had an unusually late summer and look set to commence picking early-April and be well underway by mid-April.  Hopefully Mother Nature will be kind over the coming 2 months and we’ll be rewarded with an extended summer to get our lovely crop safely into the winery.

Everything is getting pretty dry out there now and the sheep are due to move out of their final block in the next day or so having done an amazing job of leaf plucking our vines.

We’re now ready for Vintage 2012 – bring it on!

Phoebe working the side nets on the 'Blue Scrambler' motorbike

Nathan, Steve and Jonty operating the multi-row net machine2012 Pinot Noir in our Packhouse Block

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Poetry:  — 

The Owl and the Pussy-cat

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

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

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

 —  Edward Lear

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

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