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 As
I write we are now two thirds of the way through Vintage 2001 - A Grape Odyssey! A cooler
summer followed by a very dry Autumn with warm temperatures has once again given us an
excellent finish to the growing season. Warm and very stable weather for flowering in December
meant an even and excellent fruit set with well-balanced crops. The good news along with
the potential for great wines again, is that quantities are up across all three varieties.
The other great news for the 2001 vintage is Nigel Greening (the new proprietor from the
UK) has been helping out with the vintage and especially with preparing fabulous lunches
for the vintage team and picking crew. Nigel's culinary skills are quite capable of living
up to the wines being drunk and we will soon be taking applications for pickers for next
year's vintage!
We harvested a small first crop of Pinot Noir from "The Sluicings": our leased
vineyard just across the road. Watch for a vineyard designate bottling, hopefully from
the 2002 vintage. We have also secured more Pinot Noir in future by leasing the Calvert
Vineyard which lies adjacent to The Sluicings, a little further along on Felton Road. Both
of these vineyards are under the total care and management of Gareth and his team and adheres
to our policy of not buying in grapes. It is our belief that total control in the vineyard
is where we are going to make wines of great character, intensity and personality. These
additional vineyards will hopefully help ease our desperate short supply situation.
A visit to the winery would reveal some wonderful artwork on display by the 5th Form
art students of Cromwell College. We were delighted to be the feature of their year's work
with some very talented and budding young artists. Visitors have been most impressed by
the exceptionally high standard from this class to the extent that we have turned down
offers to purchase some of the pieces. We have included a few reproductions of the black
and white wood blocks in this newsletter.
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Pinot Noir Enthusiasts
The Pinot Noir 2001 event in Wellington was a huge success with many very influential wine
writers attending and also visiting Central Otago and Felton Road after the event. Felton
Road 1999 Block 3 was the wine selected to represent Central Otago in the formal tasting
of New Zealand Pinot Noirs from each region and was very well received in such a strong
line-up. We are not sure why Jancis Robinson made a comment in the Financial Times about
young Central Otago winemakers and their "late-night carousing"
(see review back page) but Blair denies any memory of such events: nothing to do with the
exciting nightlife in Bannockburn he's used to!!
Pinot Noir enthusiasts (which must mean you as a subscriber to our newsletter!) should
mark February 1 & 2, 2002 on their calenders for the second Central Otago Pinot Noir
Celebration. Next year's event will be held in Queenstown over two days with international
speakers and guest winemakers with a fun, interesting programme filled with fine wines
and great food. Please email or contact the winery to receive more detail when it becomes
available later this year.
2000 Releases
The 2000 wines are all showing unusual amounts of depth and complexity from the extended
growing season. We are very excited about the character and weight of these wines with
more silky tannin that should contribute to the wines ageing potential. The smaller berries
and bunch sizes resulted in lower yields, which means supplies are very limited and we
unfortunately have to strictly adhere to the bottle limits. The increased yields and
additional vineyard sources from the 2001 vintage should hopefully ease this situation.
In other words, please bear with us through the 2000 drought!
The 2000 Rieslings have been a huge hit with some very positive reviews. This, along
with the smaller crop, means they are now unfortunately all sold out. We were especially
delighted with the 2000 Dry Riesling being judged one of the four winners (and top NZ Riesling)
in the Australian Divine State of Origin tasting against 60 of the best Rieslings from
Australia and New Zealand.
We hope you enjoy these new releases. Visitors are welcome at the winery so please come
and say hello when passing.
Cheers,
Blair Walter
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