I remember the first time I walked around the vineyard at Vineyard Cottages. We’d moved in on a Monday and before I had had five minutes to unpack or relax, I’d been shoved in the office to learn the ropes. That evening Barry and I walked around the vineyard with two very excited dogs and began to dream that one day we could maybe, possibly, potentially make some wine from the unruly tangle of vines around us.
Over the previous decade, I had learnt an amateurs amount of knowledge about vineyards through the amount of wine tours I’d been on and having listened to wine makers and viticulturists presentations at the North Shore Wine and Food Society. From the small amount of knowledge I had, I could see we had a very bad case of pounder mildew where the air wasn’t getting through to the grapes and the leaves were infected with blister mite.
All in all it was a sad state of affairs. One end of the vineyard was over irrigated by the dispersal hoses from the septic tanks, the other was very dry. We set about learning more from the neighbours and some very kind vineyard owners around the area who shared their knowledge with us silly city folk who’d moved out to the country.
Over the years we have religiously pruned, sprayed, plucked, netted and done everything we can to bring the vines back to health. Last year we had a wine maker lined up to come and make some vino with us before the dreaded covid kiboshed that plan and the grapes were enjoyed by our very ungrateful fat birds
This year we have no wwoofers or in house team, so the housekeeping super troopers spent some time in the vines last week rolling out the nets and starting the clipping process – an arduous task at best. Last year I did a lot of it early in the morning while it was just me, the dogs and the rabbits in the vineyard much to the birds disgust. Netting is crucial in protecting the fruit from our obese bird life who feast their way through January on the plums and see the grapes in March as a much needed sugary top up.
Steve the wine maker arrived this morning and we have decided this is the year to do something with these grapes. Some of them have powdery mildew from the moisture in the air and our lack of canopy management at the north end of the vineyard. Barry and I have been out all afternoon getting that sorted pretty pronto. I remember Harry at Twin Totara saying you can do pretty much anything to vines and they spring back. That’s hopefully a good thing at I’ve been a little over zealous with one or two of the big guys.
We’ll keep you up to date on our progress, but it’s very exciting. If we have enough Sauvignon Blanc, I’ll have one happy husband, the rest will go into a fruit salad rose preferably Provence dry with that fabulous hint of blush. Fingers crossed, but for now, I shall head back out into the heat with the hot dogs and my loppers and get on with it!
Cheers