Misha's Vineyard

Getting into the Riesling habit?

Apart from Pinot Noir there are few (if any) other grape varieties that can create such passion and almost religious fervor among its followers – but Riesling manages an almost cult following.

In the April issue of Wine Business Magazine, Misha looks at Riesling’s place within a New Zealand and global context, and also reports on “In Praise of Riesling” held in the Waipara Valley earlier this year when devotees of this grape variety congregated for a day of adoration!

To read the full article download the PDF version below.

Getting into the Riesling habit – Download PDF

To subscribe to WBM – click here

Tags: Misha, Misha Wilkinson, mishas vineyard, Riesling, Wine, wine Business Magazine

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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!

Tags: central otago pinot, Food and Wine, Gewurztraminer, Limelight Riesling, Misha, mishas vineyard, Pinot Gris, pinot noir, Riesling, Rubicon Reserve, Sauvignon Blanc, Sentosa Resort & Spa, The Gallery, The High Note, Wine Distributor

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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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Just over a month ago Rich Williams, our vineyard manager, sent in a photo of the development of various clones around the vineyard. (see 10th March blog). The response was quite overwhelming with many comments coming to us on how informative this was and how many of our blog followers would be interested in seeing later development just before we harvested.

Below is the same set of grape clones from 10th April. It really does give a wonderful perspective of the ripening process. We are now about 30% through our harvest and really excited about the quality of this year’s vintage.
Thanks to Rich for taking the time to get these samples together and do the expert photography!

Tags: central otago, central otago pinot, Gewurztraminer, Limelight Riesling, misha's, mishas vineyard, Pinot Gris, Rich Williams, Riesling

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On the 22nd February, following an all-day company strategy meeting, we had a ‘Tapas and Tasting’ at The Lazy Dog in Queensberry – which is our virtual cellar door!

This was the first time that Dean and Diana (owners of The Lazy Dog) had held a ‘wine dinner’ and we were a little worried about getting a crowd on a Monday night. We didn’t need to worry, the dinner sold out and we had a waiting list and we’re already planning to do another one!

Dean did a superb job in preparing 8 courses which were perfectly matched with the 8 wines we presented during the evening. Diana called the menu a “Taste Sensations” menu matching the antipasto plate to our off-dry Lyric Riesling, the hot-smoked salmon to our medium-dry Limelight Riesling (which was a sublime combination), and the Kassler Pork loin and Risotto with our Dress Circle Pinot Gris.

Following that the spicy Mussels were served with The Gallery Gewurztraminer, Baked Camembert with the Audition ’07 Pinot Noir, and then Lamb Cutlets with The High Note ’08 Pinot Noir. In addition to all of that, we started the evening with a Sauvignon Blanc and some rosemary garlic bread and finished the evening with Dean’s home preserved apricots and a choice of Gewürtz or Riesling. Absolutely no one went home hungry!

Thanks to everyone who came to our wine dinner and a big thanks to The Lazy Dog for their enthusiasm and support of Misha’s Vineyard.

Tags: Gewurztraminer, Limelight Riesling, Lyric, Misha Wilkinson, Olly Masters, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, The Gallery, The High Note, The Lazy Dog

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