I can’t believe we are half way through April- what a busy month! I have just been on the phone to our Viticulturist and he tells me we are about 80% done for the 2010 harvest. Most of the Wairau and Awatere Valleys have been picked, apart from few blocks of Sauvignon that are being done tonight and tomorrow, and a few blocks of Pinot Noir. After that, there is only the Kekerengu Coast to go.
It feels like this harvest has gone very quickly! For me in the office, vintage time is not too different to a normal day, except there is slightly more paperwork to check off. This year we tried to keep our face book site live with what was going on daily during our harvest. I have enjoyed this and so have Jeremy and Tim, with both of them sending in their photos when they had a chance.
It has been a brilliant vintage, with great weather and picking conditions, now the juice is in tanks and barrels fermenting away and Simon is already saying he is excited about this vintage, and that the flavour profiles are looking good.
This month we have also been holding another competition on our facebook site (www.facebook.com/durvilleawines), this has been a food and wine matching one. We have been asking people to post their favourites recipe and Durvillea wine to match it with and they have won a cook book and gone in to win 6 bottles of wine weekly, this has been one of my favourites competitions we have done, as I love to cook, and it has been great to get new some new ideas and recipes to try out!
As Jane talked about in her last blog, Bella has been home recently, so on Thursday and Friday we went down to Blenheim New World and did a couple of tastings, these went really well, and people seemed very interested in the three wines, in particular the Pinot Grigio and Pinot Noir. (The Pinot Grigio was recieved so well is now available at the Blenheim New World, for those who have been looking to try it!) We have also booked in to do one in Wellington next month!
I have also had to start getting myself very organised the last couple of weeks as I am off to Canada for work on Friday, this is for three tradeshows and to meet with our distributors. The trade shows are in Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa, and will all be fabulous events. We have been talking with our agents in Toronto about bringing Durvillea into the market, so at the Toronto and Ottawa shows we are showing Durvillea which is very exciting!
However with the trip now so close there is a lot to get done before hand! Hopefully Jane and I will be able to write another blog while we are over there.
PS. An update on my Saint Clair half marathon training, the last few weeks haven’t been going so well, and running seems to be getting harder, not a good thing! It was 3 weeks till the race on Saturday, and they say the week before you should taper off beforehand. This leaves me 2 weeks, in which apparently a 17km should be done- this I am even more worried about. However, I have got my training guide to stick to, and Jane has made sure all our hotels have gyms in them, so fingers crossed I will be able to make it through the race. Any helpful hints/tips would much much appreciated guys!!