Misha's Vineyard

Posted on January 16th 2010

An update from Misha
The year has started brilliantly and we’re sure 2010 will be a good one for Misha’s Vineyard. It’s a tricky season in terms of weather at the vineyard as you’ll see from Rich and Robin’s update below but with a great fruit set and good bunch conformation things are actually looking very promising although harvest will more than likely be later this year due to the cooler temperatures.

Although we’ve only had distribution partner Negociants New Zealand for such a short time, we’re amazed at the results they have achieved so far! We have some wonderful restaurant listings in Auckland which include Bracu Restaurant, Clooney’s, La Zeppa, The Grove and Soul Bar as well as many premium retail outlets thanks to the work by Dale, Kirsten, Morven, Richard & Sheryle. And down south, Noel & AJ are working hard to ensure Misha’s Vineyard is listed all the right places as well. We love working with Negociants and we’re planning some promotional activities with them through the year.

Meanwhile in Singapore things are busy as we work with distributor, Rubicon Reserve Wines, who have us visiting most of the top hotels in Singapore over the next couple of weeks. We’re also doing a wine event for the American Association at Graze on the 21st January and hosting a Misha’s Vineyard Wine Dinner at Amici Restaurant on the 27th January. (www.amicirestaurant.com.sg)

Right after the Wine Dinner in Singapore, Andy and I depart for New Zealand to attend Pinot Noir 2010 in Wellington, then a quick trip for me to Melbourne, and then we’re at the vineyard for the rest of February.

So things are busy and we’re travelling a lot, but life is good! Misha

Tags: Clooney, La Zeppa, Misha, misha's, mishas vineyard, Negociants, Rubicon Reserve, Soul Bar, The Grove

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Good progress was made with bud rubbing and with the additional help of the Vanuatuan crew we’re now into bunch removal. We’re removing bunches from the short shoots starting first in the Riesling where there are quite a few 3rd and 4th bunches mainly on the less vigorous parts and we’ve also needed to do a partial lateral think through the centre of the block in order to see into the interior. The vines are coming up really well and putting our shoot/fruit ration back into balance. So far there are some quite small bunches in places and so we’re expecting lighter crops across the board this season. Rich..

Wind effects. The last few reports seem to have been an unending litany of woe concerning weather related opprobrium, recently including a degree of pluviality as well. The Pinot Gris in the Dress Circle has particularly seen the impact of the wind and so we’ve had to remove more bunches off short canes than usual – but it’s what is needed. Once again there is a big difference in sheltered versus unsheltered rows. At this stage we are performing a bunch removal exercise and not a thinning exercise. We would look further into establishing more planting shelter. The good news was today there was no wind and it was a glorious morning!
• The vines up on the Top Block are looking in good shape, if a bit small, which is no bad thing.
• The hoped-for and expected growth spurt in the young vines has not really eventuated – at least not yet. It may still come.
• The evening-up of the bunches through removal of the shoulders has gone pretty well, and the crop should come in a lot a more uniform condition.

The difficulties of the season with the relentless winds are making it tough for the vines. But against all this bunch conformation looks excellent. Since we had virtually no ‘stuck’ caps, fruit set has been good and berry shatter virtually non-existent. The result is that we are seeing bunch closure with berries much smaller than usual. If the seeds have been well fertilized this could lead to some interesting times in a few weeks as the berries achieve their optimum size. Robin

Notes to decipher Robin’s report!
Opprobrium: 1. the disgrace or the reproach incurred by conduct considered outrageously shameful; infamy.
Pluviality: 1. of or pertaining to rain, esp. much rain; rainy.

Tags: misha's, mishas vineyard, pinot noir, Rich Williams, Robin Dicey

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An update from Misha

The pace of the past two months is just starting to slow – and it’s now the day before Christmas! During these two months Andy and I have hit some major milestones with the vineyard. Our 2009 Release events this year marked the start of producing commercial quantities of wine – at last! Last year when we launched our first wines we had “The Audition” Pinot Noir 2007 – of which only 100 cases were made primarily as a ‘trial’ along with tiny quantities of 3 aromatic varieties. It was great to get those first wines out for review by the trade and media but we needed to wait until this year before we could seriously look at distribution.

After a lot of hard work, we announced 4 distributors in November this year. In Asia we announced Jebsen Fine Wines in Hong Kong, Apurevu Trading in Japan and Rubicon Reserve Wines in Singapore. And for the New Zealand domestic market, we were very pleased to announce Negociants New Zealand. This announcement was made at our Auckland media lunch on the 18th November (an auspicious date as it ends in 8!). It was a great feeling knowing we had 4 distributors in place given the tough economic climate and the plethora of brands seeking distribution across the globe. I think we’ve been able to achieve this because we have held true to our philosophy of ‘no compromises’ from the very outset of what we call “vineyard project”. Over the past eight years, we have ensured that we don’t take shortcuts in the vineyard, in the winery, with our team and now, with the appointment of our partners who will take our wines to the market.

This year for our ’09 Releases, our Auckland event had a table of 20 media for lunch at one of Auckland’s very best restaurants, The Grove . The restaurant is run by Michael & Annette Dearth and it was the second year we had worked with Michael in trying to come up with a spectacular lunch menu that would work perfectly with our wines. We were very lucky to be working with Chef Ben Bayly who created an amazing selection of dishes that certainly impressed all. We have a great partnership with The Grove and look forward to holding our 2010 Release events there next November.

In Wellington, our ’09 Release lunch was held in the private room at the Boulcott St Bistro. Again we enjoyed fantastic food and the mood in the room was just perfect and made for a thoroughly enjoyable lunch. So far the media reviews from these events have been amazing.

As a relatively young vineyard, we know there’s a long way to go, but we know we’re doing things right. We have recruited a fantastic team over the latter half of this year as moved from contract vineyard crews to our own team and now have Rich leading that team, and the lovely Cassy running our admin and operations. Over the coming year there are more milestones to hit as we increase our distribution to another 4 markets but our focus will certainly be on supporting the markets in which we’ve announced new partnerships so that together we can build the Misha’s Vineyard brand.

We look forward to working hard again in 2010.

Misha

Tags: Apurevu, Cassy Farmer, central otago, Misha, misha's, mishas vineyard, Negociants, Rich Williams, Rubicon Reserve, Wine Distributor

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An update from Vineyard Manager Rich Williams
Well the silly season has crept up on us again. This is one of the busiest times of year for us. I think we should have a word to our Prime Minister, Mr Key, about changing the timing of Christmas to winter – a time when the vines are dormant. That way we could have a few days off and not worry that a Nor’wester might sneak up on us.

The winds have been quite strong across the region this year. We’ve certainly found spots around the vineyard that need more windbreak. Olly has suggested some Kanuka/native shelter belts up the windy boundary fence and that would be a great idea but it wouldn’t have much of an effect for a few years. Luckily the majority of wind damage is restricted to the end bays of the Dress Circle (Pinot Gris plantings) and a small amount of tipping which we can deal with. The location of the weather station is possibly not giving a true indication of the impact of the wind so we might consider moving it. Last week the wind was so strong that some of the posts in the windbreak rows fell over and we had to support them with trailer tie downs. However we seem to be getting away with things pretty well on the most part in what is a challenging year so far. The shoots are slowly creeping up the trellis and now preparing themselves for their first trim.

Flowering has stretched out over 4 weeks this year! Incredible! Really up and down so this will probably mean our harvest will be quite varied as well. I guess it will give Olly the chance to pick smaller blocks and enable us to use smaller picking crews and take the pressure off getting it all in at once. I hope it doesn’t come down to harvesting single berries Olly, though I am prepared for anything in a year like this!

Over the last week or two, work has continued on the young Pinot Noir and Riesling vines ensuring we have 2 arms to lay down for their first crop of fruit next year. Fruit was sacrificed here early giving preference to healthy shoot growth. The Sav Blanc and Clone 6 PN on the Ski Slope has been straightened, delateralised, thinned and pinned together…I sound like a hair dresser! On wind damaged plants we have removed bunches to reduce stress and ease the burden on their road to recovery. The Pinot Noir in the Top Block is currently receiving its 3rd wire lift of the season. Meanwhile I have been closely monitoring soil moisture as it is just one of those years. Wet then dry, hot then cool, windy then calm… you get the drift. Fertigation of Calcium Nitrate also treats the girls to a wee feed as they need it.

It was great to see Bob Campbell and wife Marion here at the vineyard for a tour of the place. A really nice couple and they seemed like they were enjoying themselves. Also it was a privilege to show Felicia and Ed from Singapore around the vineyard – although I do apologise to them for the long-winded road trip to the Lazy Dog for lunch. We really need to get a Misha’s Vineyard jet boat for excursions to the tasting facility! It was also great to see Andy and Misha again – they put on a good X’mas party for the team! Also Olly was down for a good look around the vineyard in the pouring rain- they sure breed them tough up north!

Restoration work on Ah Foo’s hut has been completed and looking great. We have erected stone cairns over the eight miner’s graves where we had discovered rogue grapevines growing. Ernst has been told to put back the gold coins that he flogged from the burial site. Fortunately some well preserved recipes were able to be saved from one of the miners leather aprons believed to be Ah Foo himself. We hope to translate the Chinese language and have them posted on the website early next year.

Anyway, enough is enough. Hope you all have a wonderful X’mas and New Year.

Rich

Tags: central otago pinot, Misha, misha's, mishas vineyard, Rich Williams

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The stonemason team from Central Otago Polytechnic have been working on renovations to Ah Foo’s House on Misha’s Vineyard. The stone cottage is a re-creation of one of the original gold-miners houses built at Bendigo in the late 1800’s. It was in need of renovation to provide more protection from the strong Northerly winds when used by vineyard staff for “smoko” and lunch breaks, and to provide a spectacular venue for wine tastings.

The legend of Ah Foo is being reconstructed from historic information and will unfold over the next few months. It is known he came from Canton to the gold rush in Victoria, Australia where he was one of the more successful gold prospectors. He then made his way to Central Otago in 1862 to further his wealth establishing his claim on the gold rich deposits of Bendigo.

Steve Holmes and the team from Central Otago Polytech had no shortage of local material to work with given the abundance of schist rock that covers vast areas of the Bendigo Lakefront Terraces. Having recently done some reconstruction of the old Bakery on one of Bendigo’s historic sites, the team were well aware of the construction methods and the finish that was in keeping with the authentic historic buildings that remain in the area.

Tags: Ah Foo, central otago, Michael Dacombe, Misha, misha's, mishas vineyard, Steve Holmes, Stone Mason

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Andy and I were in Tokyo for a few days in mid October with our new distributor there – Apurevu Trading. It’s a great city and the more time I spend there, the more I like it. We decided long ago that it was going to be an important market for Misha’s Vineyard – back at a time when Japan was in fact the biggest and most important market in Asia for New Zealand wine (albeit still small volumes in the scheme of things), however that situation has changed quite dramatically.

Surprisingly, even though Japan has a population of 128 million, New Zealand exports twice the amount of wine to Singapore (with its tiny 5 million population), than it does to Japan! Just three years ago New Zealand exported similar volumes of wine to both Singapore and Japan although in value terms the Japanese exports were worth 30% more.

Although exports of New Zealand wine to Japan decreased a little in the last year, the two years prior saw double digit growth. But Japan is a market you need to make a long-term commitment to, and that’s what we decided, so we’re there for the long haul!

On this last trip we did a ‘preview’ of our wines at a trade tasting event with our new distributor at Oregon Bar and Grill at the Shiodome – just outside the Ginza area. The venue was on the 42nd floor and provided a spectacular view over Tokyo. During the afternoon a trade tasting was held followed by a customer tasting in the evening.

The feedback on our wines was amazing – the Japanese loved the fresh, crisp, pure styles of the aromatic whites and loved the finesse and structure of the Pinot Noir! We showed our 2008 Gewurztraminer and 2008 Riesling, and three of our new releases — 2009 Sauvignon Blanc, 2009 Pinot Gris and the 2008 Pinot Noir. At the end of the customer evening, we had people begging us to sell them the left-over wines! Our new distributor was delighted with the feedback and can’t wait to get their first order of our wines there!

It was great catching up with people there too – we had lunch with Carl Robinson from Jeroboam, Ned Goodwin (an Aussie working for Global Dining and hopefully soon will be the first and only MW in Japan), and our good friend Miyuki Ishibashi who was part of our Misha’s Vineyard brand panel and really helped ensure we had the right packaging (and translation) for Japan when we were creating our brand.
We also saw a lot of the sommeliers and retailers that we met back in June at the New Zealand wine fair so it was great to be there again not so long after our last visit – it all help in building those important relationships.

Keep a look out for more updates…

(Misha)

(I’ve just written an article called “Japan – Too Big, Too Hard, or Too Good to Miss” which discusses the Japanese market in detail for Australian Wine Business Monthly which will appear in November ‘09 issue).

Tags: Apurevu, Misha, misha's, misha's tokyo, mishas vineyard, tokyo pinot, Tokyo wine

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Hi all – Rich here. Just an update on how the vineyard is progressing at the moment.

I have been doing some colouring in – see attached map of bud-break for a better understanding of how the vineyard is progressing. Red means more advanced, yellow is less advanced and shoot size was really just an estimation. It may not be that easy to see here but it’s really good at full size!

These advanced areas seem to be mainly in respect of soil temperature (though no measurements taken) which are primarily around rises in the contours of the land. The earliest bud push was observed in the Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Gewürtz (Fruit Bowl), Pinot Gris (Dress Circle) and in the Pinot Noir (House Block) and generally the cane pruned vines in the mid-section of the vineyard.

We had a number of days during the earlier part of the week where air temperatures were a lot colder than normal, which slowed growth considerably and caused leaves to turn yellow and rough as a ‘badgers backside’. Now that the sun is out, things are back to the usual pace. I have noticed over the last couple of days the growth of the early pushers has slowed and overall the growth is evening up. The Lakefront block of Pinot Noir has started to crank up (especially the well-pruned ones!) which is probably the early signs of vigour.

Robin has given the go ahead to start shoot thinning the young Pinot Noir and Sav Blanc when we feel the need. I have done a small amount of thinning (5 rows) in the young Pinot Noir already and all seems straight forward and it will give them some good advance if worked on early. The young Riesling is further behind the Pinot Noir so it can be done at a later stage. Then we can move over and start attacking the Ski Slope. We still have plenty of time up our sleeves so no real pressure to get underway.

We are getting some good replies to the ad for vineyard staff in the Bulletin. Health and safety information is all prepared in folder for the viewing pleasure of future Misha’s vineyard workers. A great read!

Anyway, everything is sorted here at Ground Control. (Rich)

Tags: central otago, central otago pinot, Misha, misha's, mishas vineyard, pinot noir

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