ParticipateShowing Off in Asia
Picking the right wine event in which to participate in Singapore and Hong Kong is not an easy decision given these markets are growing and changing rapidly.
In the Dec/Jan issue of WBM, Misha analyzes the options from a ‘Brand New Zealand’ perspective as well as from an individual winery’s point of view.
Showing Off in Asia – Download PDF
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We are getting ready to head into the next harvest. It will be our 5th harvest at Misha’s Vineyard (if you count our first trial harvest of just 1.5 tonnes of Pinot Noir that was made into a Pinot Noir aptly named “The Audition”). We are looking to harvest 150 tonnes of grapes this year – our biggest harvest yet – with 2/3rds of it being Pinot Noir and the rest comprising our aromatic whites.
Generally this period pre-harvest would be the ‘quiet before the storm’ but it seems that’s far from reality as we’re busier than we ever have been, which is not surprising if you consider where we are in terms of building our brand. In November 2009 when we officially launched our range of wines, we announced distribution in 4 markets. Just over a year later, we have added another 7 markets and by mid-year, we expect to have 15 markets in total operating!
Some of the highlights of this past year have been to expand into China with our wonderful Hong Kong distributor, Jebsen Fine Wines, who also represent an amazing collection of brands including Bollinger, Penfolds, Robert Mondavi, Frescobaldi etc. Jebsens Fine Wines Portfolio 
This is a great step into an exciting market although at this stage, we’ll just focus on the five star hotels in Beijing and Shanghai. Another highlight was our launch in the UK market at Harvey Nichols earlier this year – the most exclusive retailer in the UK. We deliberated long and hard about the best distribution option for us in the UK and are delighted to be working with Indigo Wines. We have also just concluded a deal with an amazingly successful restaurant group in the US and will be working with them over the next 18 months to roll out a special blend of our Pinot Noir to their portfolio of restaurants.
When we first commenced ‘the vineyard project’ we never expected we would be launching our brand at a time of the Global Financial Crisis and also at a time when New Zealand was producing a surplus of grapes. The difficulty of getting a brand established and building distribution channels has never been harder for wineries. For us, launching a brand during these hard times is the only thing we have known – so it’s the ‘normal’ and we’ve managed to overcome the hurdles and barriers. We set the bar high at the outset (our ‘no compromise’ strategy is firmly in place with respect to all aspects of our sales and marketing) and I think the more challenging times have only made us stronger and will certainly hold us in good stead moving forwards.
We’re excited about the year ahead. We have our established markets to support, new markets in which we need to build a brand, and even newer markets to explore and enter. Our adventure is really only beginning and we’re so lucky we have an amazing team with us. We couldn’t do without Olly – our humble genius winemaker – and we certainly couldn’t do without Rich, our amazing vineyard manager/viticulturalist and our very committed and hard-working vineyard crew.
Later this week, Olly and I will be officially launching our 2009 Pinot Noir and our range of 2010 aromatic whites to the media. It will be exciting to show our new release of wines and we’re doing it in style at The Grove in Auckland. Quite simply, it’s Auckland’s best restaurant (and one of the best in the country) and it’s actually the third time we’ve held our new release media event there – no compromises, right?
Misha
Vineyard Manager Rich Williams provides an up-close view of the varietals on Misha’s Vineyard as we go through the last month of the ripening season.
Hi All, Last year the regular photo comparison updates were very popular with wine industry ‘insiders”, sommeliers, wine enthusiasts and people just generally interested in seeing how the grapes develop. We hope this provides a good pictorial view of how the various varietals develop over the last part of the season. If you wish to look back on last year – these posts are still available in our archives. As you will see, they are a lot different to last year and out of interest I weighed each bunch before I tossed them away. The weight of each bunch is listed after the photos.
A comparison of our clones March 1st 2011
Top Block
PN 5 180g
PN 115 200g
PN 667 186g
PN 5 220g
PN 667 178g
PN 777 150g
PN 5 257g
PN 115 175g
PN 777 174g
High Wire
PG 2/15 223g
PN 777 166g
PN 667 245g
RS 239 180g
Fruit Bowl
GWZ 456 165g
RS 239 130g
GWZ 456 185g
Dress Circle
PG 2/15 308g
PG Barrie 234g
PG 2/15 213g
Lake Front
PN 6 225g
PN 667 290g
PN 6 248g
PN Abel 252g
Ski Slope
PN 6 259g
SB MS 197g
House Block
RS 110 124g
RS 110 104g
RS 198.19 95g
RS 110 98g
PN 114 209g
PN 4 125g
Regards
Rich Williams
It has been a while since my last update and I’m hoping everyone’s Christmas and New Years was an auspicious one… so very sorry about not keeping up to date to let you know how the vineyard is going.
Things have been moving along up here on the Bendigo terraces. But when I left for my Xmas holidays up north, I’m sure the vines were looking green and healthy. I heard rain had fallen but didn’t think much of it… when I return 68mm had fallen and gale force winds had been thrashing my poor vines around. They were in need of some real TLC.
Pre-veraison - January 2011
The vines have come out of their lag phase and have progressed into Veraison whereby sugar begins accumulating in the bunches and they change from green to their designated colour. We have completed the final wire tuck all round followed by a trim both sides and top to remove any lateral growth pertaining to shade. The dark side of the canopy has had a combination of lateral thinning and leaf plucking to allow light to penetrate the interior. Suckers have also been removed for the second time and the vineyard has been tidied up with a lawn mow. The crew today were 10 Misha’s crew leaf plucking, 20 Ni-van workers bunch thinning, 4 French exchange visitors with guest photographer snapping, 1 consultant milling, 1 Mainfreight truck delivering new bird nets, 1 fuel truck filling the diesel tank, a tractor trimming, and a very busy vineyard manager trying to coordinate it all.
Anyway how are the blocks looking after all that. Lake Front looking very nice with full green canopy, large bunch conformation. Ski Slope is going well with a good sized crop of Sauvignon Blanc this year. No need for much bunch thinning and all well open and trimmed nicely. Dress Circle Pinot Gris is looking quite good but will feel more comfortable after crop thinning has been done. There is plenty of fruit on here with a dark green canopy and good vine health. They are slightly wind-blown on one side of the block as with High Wire block but comes right up to Pinot Noir clones. The Riesling is looking really healthy and freshly trimmed today. Bunch size varies from quite big to very small so should be quite interesting. As with Gewurtz in the Fruit Bowl, my pick this year – I’m very happy with it! Nice and healthy with good crop of grapes, well in balance. House Block Riesling is also looking up to scratch. I was a bit worried early on there would be much fruit on these young plants but still need to do a bit of work opening things up and looking good what’s underneath. Pinot Noir down there is actually quite a bit heavier than first thought so we’ll get in there soon given the chance and cut it back to 1 bunch per shoot. Interesting to see the unusual bunches on the new clone 4 fill out. Block 2 is looking really healthy and green but a little patchy though improving on last year. Still some work to do in here. The Top Block is coming along very well. There are some real differences in clones when compared to last year. 667 and 777 seem to have produced a much smaller range than their Pommard counterparts. And YES I will provide a clonal comparison in due course. The canopy is full height with limited lateral growth this year but with large crop that is being worked on currently and coming up very well. Our High Note target is around 5 – 5.5 tonnes per hectare of which about half of the crop dropped on the ground. Looking to do nets late next week as the birds have already had a bit of a peck at a vine in the Abel and I’m not giving them the chance. Still I want everything finished and up to date before then so we’re busy, busy.
Anyway, that’s enough for now. We’ll be harvesting before we know it.
Rich
Vineyard Manager Rich Williams gives a comprehensive update on progress of the season
Hi all.
Dress Circle Pinot Gris
Having a bigger than normal crew over the last couple of months has allowed us to get right up to date fast. So canopies that have reached full height have now been trimmed up. This will allow smaller shoots to catch up, put energy into fruiting abilities of the vine, and give us better control so that the vines are not blown around in the wind and sustain damage. The crew has also followed up with removal of basal leaves on the dark side and any lateral growth that will interfere with light penetration to the interior of the canopy. It will be important this year not to take off too much leaving the fruit to open and prone to sunburn but just enough to allow some light and air in around the fruiting zone. So far the Lake Front Pinot Noir, Fruit Bowl Gewurztraminer, and Sauvignon Blanc have been leaf plucked with Pinot Gris next on the list. Following that there are only small pockets of blocks that should be looked at before we go on to any bunch removal and thinning work. Then bird nets go on of course to coincide with Veraison in just over a month’s time.
Fruit-set is coming together well and we are now at a stage of bunch closure, almost 4 weeks ahead on last year with an additional 100 GDD (455 so far). Pinot Noir bunch size seems to be pretty consistent to usual clonal characteristics but across the board there is a bit of variation from big to small. One of the most interesting Pinot Noir clones I have seen lately is the newly producing Clone 4 which looks like a long Merlot bunch; it started flowering early and had a wee touch of rain on the 20th of November therefore showing symptoms of collure. This means that some berries have dropped off because the stuck cap (calyptra) on the flower did not allow pollination leaving the bunch large and open.
The Pinot Gris has a very large crop with 2-3 big bunches per shoot holding large shoulders. Canopy heights are slightly smaller on the western side of the block but a significant improvement of last year. I’d like to open the Gris up a bit after the New Year and get a better idea of what is really here and perhaps do some bunch removal.
Sauvignon Blanc is looking really good again. A bit slow off the mark but looking healthy and tidy all trimmed up. It lacks the vegetative streak that Savvy normally has being on this steep sandy block and we are currently leaf plucking and lateral thinning through here. The crop seems about the same as last year but slightly bigger berry size will see us get over the 10 tonne mark. There is definitely no fruit thinning work to do so after we finish leaf plucking there won’t be much more to do on this variety.
Gewurztraminer fruitset
Riesling continues to perform well. We don’t have to play much of a role in its development. Shoot growth is even and reasonably well open receiving an early trim. Bunch size hard to tell at this stage but still seems similar to last year if not slightly larger.
But overall the general outlook is positive with berry size large and even bunch conformation with a year similar to 2008 on the cards. Shoulders are also very even with main bunch and bunch number is not overly excessive. So, still all looking great and we are well up to date across the vineyard. So much in control that we are closing the gates over Christmas so that everyone can have a bit of time to relax.
So on behalf of everyone at the vineyard have a very Merry Christmas and happy and safe New Year and I’ll report back at Veraison. Take care and all the best for 2011!
Regards
Richard Williams
Vineyard Manager/Viticulturist
Much controversy is generated by the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) rebate that New Zealand wineries can obtain when exporting to Australia. In this November feature, Misha looks at both sides of the WET debate.
Will the Wet Season End Soon? – Download PDF
To subscribe to WBM – click here
In this October WBM article, Misha explains the issues facing boutique New Zealand wine exporters with regards to time, money and focus and provides some tips for companies planning to export overseas.
Tips for exporters – Download PDF
To subscribe to WBM – click here
Misha’s Vineyard Wines – Wine dinner at “The Cliff “ Restaurant sells out.
The Cliff restaurant at the Sentosa Resort & Spa on beautiful Sentosa Island in Singapore hosted a sell-out wine dinner featuring a menu of sensational delicacies from the chefs at The Cliff kitchen paired with the range of Misha’s Vineyard Wines. Guests from The Cliff, Rubicon Reserve Wines and Misha’s Vineyard were treated to some amazing pre-dinner hors d’oeuvres including cherry tomatoes on a small balloon of basil oil which when squeezed gave a burst of fragrant oil into the tomato! The setting – despite the rain – was very special and somewhere that everyone visiting Singapore should put on their list of places to dine.
The menu – simply put – was sensational!
MISHA’S Vineyard WINES @ THE CLIFF
2ND DECEMBER 2010
OYSTER,
lemon granite, tabasco jelly, seawater foam
Misha’s Vineyard “The Starlet”, 2009, Sauvignon Blanc
FOIE GRAS & APPLES
fizzy lemonade, apple espuma
Misha’s Vineyard “Limelight”, 2009, Riesling
TUNA
hot miso-lemon vinaigrette,
Japanese sweet potato and yuzu purée
Misha’s Vineyard “Dress Circle”, 2009, Pinot Gris
LAMB
loin and shank, fava beans, artichoke and
Sardinian fagiolo salad, yogurt textures
Misha’s Vineyard “The High Note”, 2009, Pinot Noir
CHEESE
selection of Frech cheese with preserves
Misha’s Vineyard “The Gallery”,2009, Gewurztraminer
Thank you to Restaurant Manager Kim Drew, F & B Director Adam Haywood, the whole team at The Cliff, and to Rubicon Reserve Wines for organizing such a wonderful event. We’re looking forward to going back!
An update from Vineyard Manager Rich Williams on how the vineyard is progressing…
Rich Williams
The vines have started flowering (19th November) in the House Block and Ski Slope Pinot Noir staying in sync with the timing of budburst. With that in mind it should not be long for the rest of the varieties to be away. The start is of a similar date last year though this year we were initially a week behind and now we have caught up again. I’m seeing larger canopies across the board with less wind damage in the usual spots. There are still some issues with small vine syndrome on some blocks which bear the brunt of the wind – north end Dress Circle, north end Lake Front, High Wire by the gate – but the percentage across the board will be small and I will be dropping some fruit in these positions to get the vines to kick into gear once more. So expect bigger yields due to a great growth spurt and less wind damage.
Early Flowering on Misha's Vineyard
After the young stuff, we were then making steady progress on the Ski Slope thinning out the cane pruned Sav Blanc. So far I’m satisfied with the rate of growth on these vines and cropping level seems to be low, though more even and slightly up on last year. Pinot Noir in this block is also trucking along well, more even and better wire fill than 2009/10.
I’ve had a group of casual workers shoot thinning, starting with the Lake Front Block. This block of Pinot Noir is one of the stand-outs of the season so far. Very even full height open canopy with consistent cropping level. Already we have 2 tuck wires up with shoot tips at post height already and will probably look to raise the third wire next week. The Abel clone on cane is also looking good without the vigour that it once had. From there the guys thinned out the Dress Circle Pinot Gris then the High Wire block. Shoot growth is outstanding through here. A large crop of Pinot Gris will be on the cards, with the variety producing 2 and 3 bunches a shoot.
I had a group of Ni-van workers shoot thin the Top Block Pinot Noir in a couple of days which really took the pressure off and this week the full timers have finished off the shoot thinning in the Fruit Bowl Gewürztraminer which I’m ecstatic about. A lot more even throughout this block with what looks like a larger crop than last year. The drain through the middle seems to be paying off although the already larger vines in the gully just want to grow but still really open ensuring light penetrates the canopy interior. Lastly, the Riesling is still to shoot thin but not much removal needs to be done to open it up. It will be finished off early next week along with some more wire tucking and some less than exciting removal of suckering shoots from the base of the plants. On the whole shoot thinning is all but done and 2 wires up around the board.
So on track and looking great!
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Misha’s feature for the September issue of WBM was called Filling America’s Cup which looks at the opportunities for New Zealand premium wines in the competitive US market.
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Filling America’s Cup – Download PDF
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To subscribe to WBM – click here
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