Misha's Vineyard

From the 13th to the 16th of January Misha’s Vineyard hosted presenter Yvonne Lorkin, Director Carolyn Sylvester, cameraman “Scotty” and sound recordist Donna as they filmed an episode for the upcoming Food Channel series “Thirsty Work”. It was an amazing experience working with such a professional and fun team as Misha, Andy, Rich, Olly and Jill all turned into actors for their roles in telling the Misha’s Vineyard story.

After weeks of fine sunny days the weather was looking a little foreboding just as the team arrived, but a dusting of fresh snow (yes it is summer!) on the mountains across the lake provided an amazing backdrop for the filming.

The stunning scenic footage they shot will provide the setting into which the interviews and stories will be woven.

Misha and Andy rode to the vineyard on the Harley Davidson with Scotty and his camera in the back of one of the vehicles so he could film along the way. The lake and vineyard were bathed in sun as they rode past the second camera on several passes to get different angles.

Yvonne did the introduction interviews with Misha and Andy in the vines, asking how they had become interested in the wine industry and developing Misha’s Vineyard Wines.

Then Vineyard Manager Rich Williams – filmed working with the tractor – talked about the land and soils that give the wines their special characteristics.

During the interviews Yvonne delved into the Chinese history of the vineyard, looking at the areas that had been preserved to show the gold panning and sluicing that took place in the gullies, and discussed the occurrence of the number 8 – considered very lucky in Chinese culture.

The wines of course also took centre stage with winemaker Olly Masters talking about the wines in a tasting at Ah Foo’s House, our recreated goldminers stone hut in the top block of the vineyard. The team also went through another tasting segment on the last day when we completed a shoot on the lawn at Misha and Andy’s house where Yvonne interviewed Olly on each of the range of Misha’s Vineyard wines. The wines were also filmed being poured into a glass with an array of “sensory” items around the glass to show the flavours and aromas each wine varietal shows.

The Misha’s Vineyard team, assisted by Yvonne, had the challenge of preparing a local dinner on camera for the Sunday night meal. Rich cooked his favourite Whitebait Fritters – which given he caught them himself seemed to be the perfect starter. Andy, along with Yvonne and Jill did a Hare Wellington main course served with locally vegetables from Goodies on the Gorge. All washed down with some fantastic Misha’s Vineyard Wines.

Our Visual Historian – genius photographer Tim Hawkins – was there to capture the process of filming and interviews in a portfolio of photos.

The whole experience of filming the episode was quite amazing – and the production team are such wonderful people we all felt we have made a lot of new friends. Now we wait until the editing is complete and the episode goes to air – expected around mid-year.

Tags: Andy Wilkinson, central otago pinot, Food and Wine, Misha Wilkinson, Misha's Vineyard Wines, mishas vineyard, Olly Masters, Rich Williams, Thirsty Work, Yvonne Lorkin

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Misha’s Vineyard Training at Taylor’s Uni, Malaysia

Our activities with our distributor, CK Chew, of Finlux in Malaysia included some training at Taylor’s University – which is now the largest and most established hospitality and tourism management school in South East Asia. They have a state-of-the-art modern campus adjacent to a 5 acre lake and they also have the most amazing facility to conduct wine training! Andy, Olly and I presented for nearly two hours to a group of almost 30 students, starting with an overview of what is New Zealand famous for – including of course the All Blacks and Lord of the Rings – and fantastic wines! We also went into detail why New Zealand uses screw caps, what New Zealand’s key varieties are and where they’re grown, and what makes New Zealand wines unique. Of course Olly also took them through 5 wines from Misha’s Vineyard explaining every aspect of the varietals tasted along with a backdrop of some stunning visuals of New Zealand.

Joaquim Dias Soeiro, is the Programme Director at Taylor’s, and he was delighted to be able to offer his students the opportunity to learn about wine from a real winemaker! Olly did a wonderful job explaining everything from TCA to the benefits of oak barrels and even how to evaluate and score wines.

Talking to the next generation of Asia’s sommeliers and hospitality managers is a great way to influence the trend toward New Zealand’s vibrant wine styles. The group was keenly interested in all aspects of New Zealand wines, and continued to ask many very good questions about the wines, packaging, storing and tasting well after the session finished. We are very confident this group of students will join the Malaysian hospitality industry with a keen knowledge and interest in New Zealand.

And as a result of visiting Taylor’s Uni, Misha has ended up with a lot more friends on Facebook with many of the students wanting to come to New Zealand to help with the next harvest! See you all in Central Otago!

Tags: Andy Wilkinson, CK Chew, Finlux, Misha Wilkinson, mishas vineyard, new zealand wine, Olly Masters, Taylors Uni, Wine Distributor

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Misha’s team continues SE Asia tour into Vietnam

We headed to Ho Chi Minh for the 2nd leg of our South East Asia tour and got right into the swing of things with Andy and Olly ordering some local noodles in the Ben Thanh market which was very close to our hotel in District 1 of the city. Ho Chi Minh is a city of motor scooters – and it really is the fastest way to get around town as Olly proved riding through the manic traffic with one of the Fine Wines team to our dinner on the first night in HCMC! Our new distributor in Vietnam is Fine Wines part of Indochina Dragon Importing Company, and General Manager Mr Son, has put together a fabulous team there including Audrey and Anny. As the distributor for Riedel glassware and Vintec wine fridges, they’re in the perfect position to ensure the restaurants and hotels they supply have the right glasses and keep the wines at the correct temperature – very important in a an emerging wine market like Vietnam.

We were able to get acquainted with the Fine Wines team as they generously hosted us for a dinner on the first night there at a wonderful restaurant called TIB where we drank some excellent Errazuriz wines from Chile that Fine Wines also distribute in Vietnam.The next day we headed out to some key accounts including Yacht which has an impressive wine cabinet (courtesy of Fine Wines) which was stocked with Misha’s Vineyard Pinot Noir, of course! We then went to M Saigon hotel and checked they were fully stocked with our wines too! For lunch it was a real treat to go to Maxim – certainly one of the icon restaurants of Ho Chi Minh and it was even more exciting to see our Pinot Noir gracing each table in lovely Vietnamese lacquer-ware bottle holders.

On the second evening we held a tasting event at Xu Restaurant & Bar http://www.xusaigon.com/

It was a very trendy place to have our official Vietnamese launch and it’s even more exciting that we now have two wines on the list of this very international restaurant. Thanks Bien for your support of Misha’s Vineyard and for the stunning food that accompanied our wines at the event. It was also great to have Graham Sims – NZ Trade Commissioner – join us for the launch.

Fine Wines are just about to move to a new retail store just one block from the Park Hyatt Hotel in one of the most prestigious areas of Ho Chi Minh and they are also moving to bigger and larger offices as the company expands. We are so lucky to have found a wonderful partner in this fabulous and emerging wine market in South East Asia.

Tags: Central Otago Pinot Noir, Fine Wines, Ho Chi Minh, Misha Wilkinson, Misha’s Vineyard, Olly Masters, Xu Restaurant

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Misha’s update on our recent trip to Singapore

We love working with our Singapore distributor, Crystal Wines, who really ensured we met with all the key F&B folks while we were in Singapore. On Monday 1st August, they organized a trade dinner at Victoria Peak, a wonderful Chinese restaurant at Suntec City, for 50 people. Guests were invited to come and do a formal tasting of Misha’s Vineyard range of wines followed by a multi-course Chinese banquet. Many of Singapore’s 5 star hotels and clubs were represented at the dinner including the Sheraton Towers Hotel, St Regis Hotel and Republic of Singapore Yacht Club. And some of Singapore’s best restaurants came too including folks from Flutes at the Fort, Lawry’s Prime Rib, Orgo Bar & Restaurant, Que Pasa, Renn Thai, Bali Thai, and many more.

The following evening we held a Misha’s Vineyard Wine Dinner at OSIA – with celebrity chef Scott Webster, who ensured it was one of the best dinners we’ve ever experienced! OSIA is a premium restaurant which is part of Singapore’s Resorts World, a huge Casino complex which has a variety of restaurants and hotels within it. The best menu match at the dinner was the Sea Salt & Vinegar Cured Petuna Ocean Trout with Honey Pineapple Dressing with our Misha’s Vineyard ‘Limelight’ Riesling – sublime! We had lots of friends attend the dinner. Thanks to you all for your support – it was great to see so many Singapore friends again. And thanks to the gorgeous Kori Millar – a Kiwi gal who runs OSIA and ensures it’s a five star experience for everyone, every time!

We also visited a few wonderful places whilst in Singapore where our wines are sold including the Marina Bay Sands Hotel & Casino who have our Sauvignon Blanc and our specially labelled Misha’s Vineyard “Lucky 8” Pinot Noir throughout the hotel and in their High Rollers Club “Paiza”, and popped in to see Kim Drew at The Cliff restaurant at Sentosa Resort & Spa

Tags: Andy Wilkinson, Central Otago Pinot Noir, Crystal Wines, Kim Drew, Marina Bay Sands, Misha Wilkinson, Misha’s, Misha’s Vineyard, Olly Masters, OSIA, Resorts World, Scott Webster, The Cliff

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Millesime Restaurant.

Misha’s Vineyard Wines were formally launched into the Malaysian market on August 11th with a stunning dinner at Millesime restaurant. Chef Max Chin prepared some stunning dishes to match the range of Misha’s Vineyard wines now stocked by Malaysian wine and food company Finlux Sdn Bhd.

Attending the dinner were journalists, sommeliers and trade buyers from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. The meal was a series of perfectly prepared small plate dishes including seared tuna, goose foie gras, Hokkaido sea scallops and venison loin. The desert was an amazing Cherve Goat Cheese with Macaroon delight which matched perfectly with Misha’s Vineyard Limelight Riesling.

Chef Max Chin left the kitchen once the food was out to provide entertainment – including getting our winemaker Olly Masters to perform a very brief “Haka” along with Finlux owner CK Chew.

We were truly delighted to see such good interest in the wines and to have a growing interest in New Zealand wines as a serious category of wines within Malaysia. With Asia emerging as a wine market the pure expressions and delicate flavours of New Zealand cool climate varietals is a perfect fit with the cuisine and palates of the region.

For more photos and information visit Misha’s Vineyard on Facebook!

Tags: Central Otago Pinot Noir, Finlux Sdn Bhd, Max Chin, Millesime, Misha Wilkinson, mishas vineyard, Olly Masters, pinot noir

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One of Singapore’s most established and popular wine bars – Que Pasa – hosted a wine tasting of Misha’s Vineyard Wines with our star winemaker Olly Masters presenting the range of wines. It was fantastic to see such interest from the mix of experienced wine aficionados to people who were quite new to wine. Some of the tasters were trying Gewurztraminer for the first time – and loved it!

During the introduction we talked about New Zealand and why New Zealand wine has made such a splash on the world stage in such a short period of time – and had them taste the “freshness and purity” that only can come from a country with such breathtaking beauty and pristine environment. We then went through a tasting of the Misha’s Vineyard wines that was accompanied by some delicious snacks put on by the Que Pasa team to match the range of aromatic white wines and Pinot Noir.

Singapore’s wine market continues to develop at a pace to match the F1! Misha and Andy recalled going to Que Pasa in 1995 when it was the only wine bar in Singapore. Now with wine bars and wine clubs all over the island city it was great to see the first one still delivering fantastic wines and food to its customers. As interest in wine develops in Singapore the style of wine from New Zealand is becoming even more popular. The palate style and Asian food match of our pure cool climate varietals is especially pleasing to Singaporeans looking for wines of elegance and texture.

Thanks to the amazing team at Que Pasa for a wonderful experience, to our great distributor in Singapore – Crystal Wines, and thanks to all those wine lovers who came along to try our wines. We plan to be back regularly to show you new vintages and continue our friendship.

Tags: Central Otago Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer, Misha Wilkinson, mishas vineyard, Olly Masters, Que Pasa

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Winemaker Olly Masters gives a brief summary on the Misha’s Vineyard 2011 vintage

Overall I think the season and vintage have gone well, a settled and warm Oct/Nov/Dec got us off to a flying start and we had 1119 degree days in total – which is on the warm end (Martinborough got 1220 DD, Marlborough 1010 DD). This includes 52 DD in April which not all the grapes got. Interestingly Marlborough and Martinborough only got 3 and 1 respectively for April. The benign first half gave way at Xmas with winds arriving, again the Pinot Gris was the main block to suffer the impact but many other areas only just achieved full canopy. Summer rainfall was 273mm which was certainly useful canopy wise but the greyer warm weather through Jan/Feb didn’t lessen Vineyard Manager Rich Williams disease worries!

We saw more shrivel than usual in the Pinot Noir this season which may have been from early season heat and/or the higher than usual Summer moisture. However this is not a problem for the wine, and in fact may add some further complexity into an already good vintage.

Canopy and crop management over the season required ongoing attention from the vineyard crew, there was little bird damage and we didn’t lose anything significant to disease – which is great news in what was a tough season for many!

Crop intake was fairly in line with estimates, the Pinot Gris was down a bit, mostly as we went back in and dropped more bunches where the canopy wasn’t up to it. Gewurztraminer also came in lower than initial estimates which I think is more to do with the difficulty around measuring variation in “fruit bowl” section of the vineyard.

In general all the whites came in with good fruit characters and nice overt varietal flavour. There was more variation in the Pinot than usual which reflected the larger range in cropping levels we were carrying – but certainly there will be a lot of good Pinot.

Tags: central otago, central otago pinot, mishas vineyard, Olly Masters

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Harvest Update

The 2011 growing season has thrown some interesting weather at us. The first half of the season was warm and dry but in January temperatures dropped and have stayed unseasonably cool and wet for much of the rest of the growing season. Overall we have still managed to come through with a great finish to the season due to some diligent vineyard management and keeping crops low. We’re delighted with the amazing fruit that’s been picked so far. This year’s harvest started slowly on Wednesday 30th March with a short day as we took a little Pinot Noir from the House Block. They were just 4 year old vines and their first “producing” season so we had to ensure the vines had a well balanced yield given the youth of the vines. Over the next couple of days we picked mainly Pinot Noir including the Abel clone of Pinot Noir from our Lakefront block– always a lush and flavorsome section of the vineyard! After three days of harvest we had partially picked 4 of our 8 clones of Pinot Noir – with still a lot of vineyard to go! Winemaker and official harvest scheduler, Olly Masters, tasted a lot of fruit on the Monday of Week 2 of harvest, and as usual, Olly is not in a rush to get the fruit off the vine as he waits for the berries to develop the flavours he’s looking for so we didn’t resume picking until Wednesday.

The first white varietal to be picked was the Sauvignon Blanc on our “Ski Slope”. It’s an interesting area to harvest. We pick mostly downhill as the bucket runners would simply not manage to get full buckets up the steep slope to the tractor and trailer and our picking crew would struggle to climb uphill as well. Thank goodness for the Misha’s Vineyard mini-bus to get them from the bottom of the hill to the top in order to start another downhill run. Ski Slope also tests the brakes on the tractors with two 400kg harvest bins on the trailer facing straight down the slope to the lake. The Sauvignon Blanc from Misha’s Vineyard is quite different from the more typical Marlborough style of Sauvignon Blanc produced in New Zealand. It’s more tropical and luscious than herbaceous and grassy. We think it’s the stunning view these vines have that makes the difference!

Friday started with 7 1/2 tonnes of Clone 667 Pinot Noir from Lakefront then we switched to Gewürztraminer – all .95ha of it in our “Fruitbowl” section of the vineyard. Gewürztraminer is one of the best varietals for being able to taste the wine flavours in the fruit before processing. It has really delicious lychee and musk flavours with a fruit sweetness that makes you want to munch on bunches while you’re picking!

Thanks to this year’s hardworking harvest team from Germany, Poland, Japan and of course New Zealand. It’s tough getting up in the cold to be picked up in town and driven up on site ready to start snipping at 7:30am. The starts can be quite icy until the sun starts to warm the air, but of course running up our hills warms everyone up!. However the spectacular view from Misha’s Vineyard on a beautiful Central Otago day is worth it!

Tags: central otago, central otago pinot, Central Otago Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer, mishas vineyard, Olly Masters, Sauvignon Blanc, Wine Harvest

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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

Tags: central otago pinot, Harvey Nicholls, Indigo Wines, Misha, Misha Wilkinson, mishas vineyard, Olly Masters, Rich Williams, The Grove

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An update from Andy:
At the end of week two of harvest we are about half way with 54 tonnes of grapes now in the winery for processing. These have not been full work weeks as Olly carefully selects sections of the vineyard that are just right for picking and we anticipate about 6 days more picking spread over the next two weeks to complete the season. At this stage all of the Gewurtztraminer and Sauvignon Blanc is picked, we are part way throught the Riesling and have taken some sections of Pinot Noir. The remaining Riesling, all of the Pinot Gris and most of the Pinot Noir is still enjoying a warm Autumn. The canopy on the vines in most of the vineyard has held up well this year so flavours continue to develop in the fruit. Picking by taste and not by brix and acid numbers is to me a wonderful expression of art rather than science.

Our harvest crew has been fantastic and although some of our French workers have left to return home, and Ken – from China – has also moved on – we are looking forward to some great new crew joining the team next week. I’ve been working with the team each day driving tractors and running buckets – and my aches and pains are testimony to the steepness of the slopes and heavy buckets. We are really thankful to the effort our whole team, both permanent staff and casuals, have been putting in and appreciate their care and attention to picking. Our focus on quality has been applied by every member of the team.

The word from the winery is wow! They are really delighted with the quality of fruit coming in and even my limited palate is enjoying the wide range of tropical and berry flavours from the early stages of juice and ferments. The most frustrating part is now waiting until late 2011 or early 2012 before the Pinot Noir from this vintage gets released!

Tags: central otago, Gewurztraminer, Harvest, mishas vineyard, Olly Masters, Pinot Gris, pinot noir, Riesling

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