Category Archives: astrolabe farm

Winter Harvest down on the Farm

Posted on by Jane
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Nets up, after the Riesling was picked

Gosh, it is June and we are still harvesting. Today it is fantastic that the Riesling has been picked. During vintage Simon decided it would be the year we made a Noble Riesling so the nets went back on.

We last did this in 2007. So then we waited and waited. The weather was fine and the infection slowly developed and then it rained and rained. So we were pleased that the sun reappeared this week and Jeremy and Simon decided to pick today.

Nick with the mechanical harvester

However I had also booked a spot at the olive press for our first pick of olives. It has been a crazy day. Luckily Arabella was home on study leave and helped prepare morning tea and lunch for pickers of all varieties and crops.
This year we experimented with a mechanical olive harvester. It was an interesting day. Hand harvesting relies on lots of people to reach the required 300kg weight of olives to ensure to ensure a single grove batch press. It is also very pleasant gathered about the trees gently running your hands done the fruiting branches milking off the olives. However it is also a lot to ask of people. As we don’t sell the oil all we can offer is lunch, and a supply of delicious oil. So this year I borrowed a mechanical hand held machine from a friend and fellow grape/olive grower Jan Johns. The upshot was we managed to pick half the grove with 4 people. We also picked trees with a patchy crop that we would have left if we were hand picking. An interesting conundrum to consider is how I balance the argument in my head of mechanization versus hand picking. Tomorrow being Saturday we will pick traditionally by hand. The jury is out.

Winemakers helping out

Now with a number of people coming for lunch and the need for tasty winter fare I made a pot of Vegetable Soup last night. We have been going through a soup phase of late brought on by our harvesting of mushrooms. Alas the weather is too cold now for mushrooms but a good crop of pumpkins are stored in the shed in anticipation of my personal favourite Pumpkin Soup. However we did make pots and pots of Mushroom Soup, and using field mushrooms makes such a difference. Tomorrow Arabella will whip some savoury pinwheel scones to accompany the soup. Below is our Mushroom Soup recipe from the good old Edmonds cookbook.
Mushroom Soup
225g (8 ozs.) Mushrooms
½ cup Water
1 tablespoon Butter
1 Tablespoon Flour
1 cup Milk
Seasonings
Little Lemon Juice

Peel mushrooms, break into small pieces, and cook in the water until tender. Melt butter in a saucepan, add flour, and gradually stir in the milk. Cook until the mixture thickens, and cook a few minutes longer; mushrooms and liquor and seasonings. Just before serving,add lemon juice. A little cream improves the flavor.

Off to buy some shade cloth to make some new nets for the olive pick. Meg is home this afternoon and can help sew and bake treats for morning tea.

Pinot Grigio, Pinafores and Quince Jelly (again)

Posted on by Meg
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Sophie is off gallivanting around Asia and Jane has her hands full with Astrolabe farm and holding the fort at the office so I thought I would dash off a little blog post to keep everyone up to date.

Last weekend Sophie came up to Wellington to do two tastings at Thorndon New World with me. I really enjoy the chance to do tastings, it is definitely a skill and I am feeling pretty confident with them now. I think the supermarket tastings are really worthwhile – it is such a competitive market at the moment and consumers can feel overwhelmed with the sheer volume of wine available. Having a chance to taste and have a chat with us will hopefully inspire them to pick up a bottle next time they see us on the shelf. The Pinot Grigio was very popular, lots of people who weren’t big Pinot Gris fans were surprised by how much they liked it. I also think customers really appreciated the fact that we are a family business rather than just merchandisers hired to sell the wine (not that there is anything wrong with that either!). As usual our Durvillea aprons made by Jane went down very well. Sophie also did an Astrolabe tasting at the City Market which she really enjoyed – although it is a pretty hard sell getting the public to taste wine early on a Sunday morning! I personally love the City Market – it gives Wellington a proper city feel I think. Gusty Gourmet is a terrific blog which has some recent entries about the city market – well worth checking out.

This weekend I had another go at making Quince Jelly. Last time I had my mum to help me out but I went solo this weekend. I used the instructions from our own quince jelly post. It is a real family tradition for me – my granny is very good at making it and she was taught by her mother who was in turn taught by hers. This time I used more apple and it worked out well. It is lovely and clear and set quite firmly. I think that the extra pectin and the clear apple juice helped. I also strained it through three layers of stockinette which may have kept it clearer. It is also a deeper ruby red this time. The quinces were brought up from Astrolabe Farm for me by Sophie.

The other main news in my life is my lovely new bike. It is going to help me cut down on my car use especially for short trips. I’ll write more about it later but will leave you with a pretty picture of it.

- Meg

‘What’s cookin’- Down the farm

Posted on by Jane
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I said to Sophie I’m off home to write a blog. Well I’ve checked my emails, planned dinner, and fed the cats. I suppose I could get the washing in but no I have finally logged in and scrolled through all the old blogs. We have been blogging for a whole year. I can feel a Seekers song coming on “For every season turn, turn…..” Harvest is in full swing and over the weekend some of the Riesling and Chardonnay were picked. Arabella did a stirling job making morning tea for the pickers. I was away in Auckland with Meg. We went to see Carole King and James Taylor. As promised here is the recipe for Arabella’s fabulous Easter cake. It is particularly useful as it is gluten free and it comes from Cuisine, Issue 133,  March 2009 Pg.100 

Chocolate & Almond Cake 

200g 64-70% chocolate 

200g unsalteds butter 

200g caster sugar 

5 eggs separated 

250g peeled blanched almonds, pulsed to fine meal 

finely grated zest of 1 lemon 

icing sugar for dusting 

Preheat the oven to 180C. Butter a 23cm-diameter loose-bottomed tin and line it with baking paper. Break the chocolate into small pieces, place in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and heat until melted. Add the butter in pieces and gently stir in. Add the sugar and stir to a creamy consistency. Remove from the heat and cool slightly then add the egg yolks. Stir in the almonds. In a large bowl whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, not too dry or the cake will have a hard crust. Add the lemon zest and gently fold in the chocolate, ensuring you don’t overmix. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 30-40 mins until the cake is a lovely dark brown, has a light crust and is shrinking away from the sides of the. tin. 

Meg was home over the weekend and moved up a notch on the domestic goddess front by making quince jelly. The quince tree is laden with fruit and so using Granny Lois’ Constance Spry cookbook (which begins with a chapter on hosting a cocktail party. Here is the recipe: 

Quince Jelly 2.5 kg crabapples 2kg quince 

Pared rind and juice of 2 lemons sugar 

Wash apples and quinces and remove all blemished parts. Cut up and put in a pan with cold water to come level with the fruit. Simmer until pulpy. Turn into a jelly cloth or bag and leave overnight. Measure the juice and allow .5 kg sugar per litre. Put together into a preserving pan rubbed round with a piece of cut lemon, and the lemon rinds tied together, and the strained juice of the lemons. Bring to boil slowly, stirring from time to time to dissolve the sugar. Boil rapidly, skimming occasionally, until it will set lightly when tested. 

Quince Jelly in jars

Taken from “The Constance Spry Cookery Book  (J.M. Dent;1956) 

Lamb Shanks marinating in Durvillea Pinot Noir

Finally Arabella has been cooking a storm and here are  a couple of photos of her efforts. Both were fabulous with the Pinot Noir. 

So if you have been cooking up a storm too, make sure you add your recipe and wine match to our face book page (www.facebook.com/durvilleawines)

Easter Eggs and Pinot Noir

Posted on by Meg
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We hope everyone had a good easter break!

It has been a busy easter weekend here at Astrolabe Farm. Arabella is home for the university mid-term break and Meg arrived home on Good Friday. We got straight into some chores – waterblasting, mowing, harvesting the quince and picking up walnuts. This was all in preparation for Saturday which was a full on day as Jane and Sophie were hosting a wine tasting at Astrolabe Farm for some American visitors off a cruise ship and Meg & Bella were scheduled to pick some of the Pinot Noir grapes.

It was beautiful weather so picking the Pinot Noir was not too difficult a task. We were picking what we call the “sandybank Pinot” which are grapes from a small section of the vineyard that grow on an old creek bed. The soil is very sandy so it doesn’t retain water as well as other parts of the vineyard. It was easy to see which grapes needed to be picked as the vines had started to yellow and defoliate. The Pinot is under nets as that part of the vineyard is very attractive to the birds who populate the hedges that border the property.

The first task is to lift the nets so that we can pick under them. This is quite difficult for some of the more diminutive members of the family! Simon came out to double check the fruit and confirm the rows that needed to be picked. We pick using snips and wearing gloves. You end up with pretty sticky hands by the end of the day. Although it looks a bit silly we often pick in cotton dresses and skirts as they are nice and cool to work in. We often add a flowery apron to hold our snips in too! We place small yellow bins out along the rows and when the row is finished Arabella drives the truck along and we empty the small bins into a larger one that then gets driven out to the winery.

We had almost finished when the visitors from the cruise ship came out to see what we were up to. They were very interested in the whole process and we even managed to get them to help out with some picking. When we had a pretty full bin Dad came to pick it up and we cycled back to the house for some refreshments.

On returning home Arabella was straight into the kitchen working on a spectacular easter cake. We will post a recipe later in the week but until then here is a preview!

There are heaps more pictures from the Pinot Noir picking on our Flickr account here – check them out, it will make us happy!  – Meg & Arabella.

A Friday Flap-Up

Posted on by Jane
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Sophie rang me this morning and asked me to bring in the Dean’s bread recipe. I was out feeding my chickens last night’s leftovers and scraps. The chickens are looking a bit scruffy as they are moulting at the moment. Not looking their best and egg production is suffering. I think the time for brown shavers has come. Having to buy eggs when you have 5 chickens (or in my case old chooks) is silly.

Then I had to check my new baby goldfish. Yesterday my lovely pilates teacher Marcia gave me 16 little goldfish for my pond. I have always disliked our funny little concrete pond which had a concrete statue of two little boys in the centre. From their little out stretched hands was meant to come a fountain of water but the pump has died. We named the boys Douglas and Michael after Doulas Wright and Michael Parminter. Unfortunately I knocked Douglas’ head off when cleaning out the pond. However the fish I hope will help the pond and the boys have been retired and I have planted watercress on their plinth instead.

So in the midst of bucolic bliss Sophie’s call sent me into a flap as I can’t find the recipe. I will look again but in the meantime here is the Kasundi recipe. This is from “The Best of Annabel Langbein: Great Food for Busy Lives.” Page 16. (Simon made this using plums and a little less sugar).

225g green ginger, peeled
100g garlic loves, peeled
50g green chillies, sliced in half lengthwise, seeds removed
2 1/2 cups malt vinegar
1 cup canola or safflower oil
2 tbsp tumeric
5 tbsp ground cumin
3 tbsp chilli powder
5 tbsp mustard seeds, ground to a powder
2kg tomatoes, washed and chopped
2 1/4 cups sugar
about 3 tbsp salt

Puree the ginger, garlic and chillies with a little of the vinegar to make a paste. Heat the oil in a very big pot or preserving pan. Add all the ground spices and fry until they exude a fragrant aroma. Add the pureed paste, tomatoes, the rest of the vinegar, sugar and half of the salt (check near the end of cooking to see if more is required). Cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until the oil floats to the top (about half an hour). Bottle in sterilised jars while hot with a thin film of hot oil on the top of each jar (to prevent top from drying out) and cover with screwtop seal lids. Leave 2 weeks, keeps indefinitely. Makes about 2 litres.

A final note from Jane: we used old Durvillea bottles to bottle ours.

Crafty work down on the farm.

Posted on by Jane
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The approaching harvest of the grapes is beginning to dominate life. Nick has been working hard in the vineyard cutting out green fruit and putting on nets. There is a rising sense of anticipation. We are beginning to watch the weather carefully and notice the cooler nights. So far so good.

As well as the grapes, the pears and apples are now ripe. The swans wander up from the pond and eat the fallen pears and we are enjoying them straight off the tree. We also had a great plum crop and Simon made plum kasundi. In the past we have made a tomato kasundi but Simon cut out about a 1/3 of sugar to account for the higher sugar levels in plum. The recipe we use is Annabel Langbein’s and goes particularly well with courgette and feta fritters. These fritters are a great way to use up courgettes that are probably more correctly called marrows.

Simon has also ventured into jam making using up the apricots that could be saved from the birds!

Winemaker jam making

Domestic activities have been a feature of our summer. Libby, Meg and I decided to take up crocheting over the Christmas break. We bought wool, borrowed books from the library and struggled. I did know how to do this once and the plans for an afghan rug may at this point be beyond our skills. It was a lot of fun and I intend to keep trying.

So it was with some relief when Arabella decided to make cusion covers for her flat. I am much more comfortable with the sewing machine. Generally I have not fulfilled my role of good mother by teaching my daughters to sew. However my hopes have been rekindled with Meg and Arabella showing a bit of interest. It was great fun whipping up soft furnishings with Arabella. Appliquing creatures on top of the floral fabrcs was particularly successful. We even tackled recovering a lampshade of an old standard lamp she had painted. Adding fringeing pleased me greatly.

Making cushions

From this I carried on to make aprons for us to wear for the wine and food festival. I love to wear an apron. Arabella found some seaweed fabric online and we had some pockets screenprinted with the Durvillea artwork. Simon took one look and said that the seaweeds on the fabric were from the Northern Hemisphere! The girls looked fab lined up behind the counter at the Wine and Food Festival in their pinnies.

Super pinny model Sophie

This domestic activity culminated in a fantastic bread making session. A couple of weeks ago we had a visit from Toni and Dean Betts. Dean is a chef who started The Fish Market restaurants in California and then moved to Auckland and started The Anglesea Bar & Grill. In discussing food, wine and life Dean offered to show me how to make a a flatbread and baguette loaf using a no knead recipe. Wow! We mixed up the dough and the next morning Dean came back and we shaped and baked , topping the flatbread with olive oil, rosemary, and garlic from the Farm. It was so much fun,  extremely satisfying and very delicious. Dean’s generosity as a chef and teacher was greatly appreciated.

Dean making the bread

Jane and Dean's bread

Over the next week I will post the recipes…………

Down on the Farm….A new year

Posted on by Jane
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Happy New Year to you all. Monday morning and back at work in the office. Actually I covered the office between Christmas and New Year but everyone is back at their desks looking bright eyed or is that just the lovely strong coffees Simon made us all.

After spending most of November and December away it is great to be based at home over the next couple of months and boy does the garden need it! Weeds, wind and water. The first two in abundance the last is more of an effort. However it has been raining for the last 12 hours. Hooray. One of the things I love about the garden is how forgiving it can be. Seasons come and go and you have a chance to try again.

You will be pleased to hear that the chickens are all well and reasonably productive. They have eaten all the lettuces in the garden. This is the downside of letting them free range. The vegetable garden is I am afraid rather depleted. However I have begun the campaign and I think I am beginning to regain control. Lack of water and chicken attacks mean that the salad greens have been compromised but the courgettes are coming along. I harvested some potatoes, peas and broadbeans and made a great salad. Now broadbeans have been quite a revelation for me. I have always loathed those nasty grey offerings served up traditionally. However peeling them has changed my life! I am a born again broadbean eater. Below is the recipe I used.

Broad bean, pea, potato and green salad

1 small new potatoes, fresh broad beans podded, fresh peas podded, a few handfuls of green leaves (I used spinach), shaved parmesan cheese, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, 2tbsp red wine vinegar, olive oil.

Cook the potatoes and set aside. Nice if keep warm. Boil the broad beans about 2 mins until their skins start to pop but not too long. Refresh in cold water. Pop them out of their skins. I boiled the peas with beans. Wilt your chosen greens in a little olive oil over a high heat. Split open the potatoes and place a single layer on a serving dish. Add broad beans, peas, greens,  parmesan and season with salt and pepper. dress with red wine vinegar and oil. (I adapted a recipe from”Fuel for your Family: The Waihi Cooks”. This is  a lovely cookbook put together by the families of Waihi School in South Canterbury.

My attention is turning to our abundance of plums and Simon and I thought we might try using our favourite tomato kasundi recipe for plum sauce. We have enjoyed a moderate crop of apricots and we have a huge crop of pears coming on. The swans and ducks on the pond will be very pleased. The coppice is growing so well. Although we have never watered them they are thriving. Grovetown has a very high water table and they seem to be very happy. However Arabella made the observation that at the moment they are kindling size rather than firewood.

Simon and Jane inspecting the alders

We have noticed lots of hegehogs about. I love them, too much Beatrice Potter I suspect. However there have been a number of fatalities in the little pond and pool. Arabella and I have both managed to rescue a couple frantically swiimming with their wee noses poking just above the water.

A shy hedgehog

Next blog I thought I might tell you about how the Durvillea girls are getting crafty.

Jane

Sophie’s Wrap Up

Posted on by Durvillea
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nelson tastingThis week I have been manning the office alone as Simon, Jane and Jason have been in Shanghai for a trade show. Jason is now his way home, while Jane and Simon are en route to Ireland, where they are to be joined by the girls to launch Durvillea Wines next week.

However, being the only one in the office it has not been dull, I have been very busy!

Last week I went over to visit our Nelson customers to see how the were going, and if they needed anything before the Christmas rush. I also did a tasting at Richmond Fresh Choice, who have been very supportive of Durvillea, since we released it. The tasting was a success and a lot of people seemed to very interested in our Pinot Grigio (Pinot Grigio is an Italian style of wine, it is still made with the Pinot Gris varietal, but it is made in a dryer and leaner style- a style that Simon is interested in)

One of the things I have also been busy with this week, that we are all extremely excited about has been organising and finalising details with Fabel, who are the company that put on Sounday. We have organised to be their exclusive wine partner for the event next year.
Sounday_backgrnd

Sounday 2010 is going to be held on the 30 January 2010 at Hagley Park 10am- 7pm, the line up has not been released yet, but I will keep you all up to date and provide a link to buy tickets when they are available.

This week it has warmed up in Marlborough, which our viticulturist Jeremy is verfirst grapesy happy about as it has started to encourage some growth with the grapes. So far it has been rather cool, so growth has not been very rapid, however already with a few warm days and some rain he is starting to see some growth.

Currently we are in the pre flowering growth of the cycle. The photo here shows the bunches pre flowering and they are called inflorescenses, from here they will flower in a couple of weeks and then set, turning into bunches of grapes. At this time of year it is important to shoot position this is to maximise light interception (increase photosynthecity of the plant) and to and lay the foundation for the canopy of the vine for the rest of season.

As a lot goes on in the next few months in the vineyard I thought I would give you a wee update every couple of weeks so you can see exactly what stage of the growth process we are at.

It is a beautiful evening here in Marlborough today, so I think it must be time to head out for a drink!
- Jane, Simon and Meg, I hope you have a good trip to Ireland, I am dropping Libby and Bella at the airport Sunday to join you! Sophie

Down on the farm – Home at last

Posted on by Jane
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It has been a ridiculous month. Mexico, Simon’s birthday and then Marlborough Wine Weekend. I am tired and happy to be home…for a little while.

Firstly a word about the birthday. For me to have so many family and friends together and to have such a great night was overwhelming and fabulous. Also lots of silly dancing. To my girls (and Genevieve you get included here), my sister Nicki, Sophie, Aunt Maureen, Liz Morgan you are wonderful women who made it work and of course Vicky and Janet the ladies in the kitchen. Simon isn’t just a great winemaker he is also a good chap. We should celebrate more often.

So post events I have time work in the garden and Monday was a public holiday and I had a terrific day weeding and pottering in the vege garden. The tomatoes and broad beans are in flower, strawberries and raspberries are forming and weeds are flourishing. My main concern is to weed and mulch as we are away in November. In the flower garden the irises are glorious and roses beginning to bloom.

However roses are a constant challenge as I am determined not to spray. The roses look terrific at this time of year in the full flush of new leaves and blooms and then they succumb to disease. My current problem is scale.Scale treated with olive oil

On a suggestion from a friend I took the left over olive oil from the party and painted it on the stems with an old pastry brush. The results are fantastic. The scale has died and healthy systems have emerged. I am encouraged.

The young chickens are broody. I have lifted them each day but it is amazing how drugged they appear. They are completely passive and let me carry them about. I have checked out the chicken blogs and it would appear I need to get them off their warm, snug nesting box and lower their body temperature. IMG_0711
Tomorrow they we go into the more spartan isolation unit (aka dog run). However the other broody hen is Widow Twanky, our lady pheasant, who is living amonst the rhodenrodens and is currently sitting on 7 eggs. I shall leave her to fruitless task.IMG_0715
My latest project is to make seaweed soup for the garden. On Wednesday Simon and I headed down to Ward Beach and collected some Durvillea. Ward Beach is very beautiful and Durvillea flourishes there. I love stony South Island beaches. So we hauled some durvillea ashore, bundled it into the truck and headed home. I chopped it up into a half wine barrel and added some comfrey. Now it is steeping.IMG_0710IMG_0688
The vineyard is full leaf and Nick is busy bud rubbing. Arabella and Libby will be joining him in the vineyard when we get back from Ireland. Durvillea is being launched in Ireland in 2 weeks so we are all very excited to be heading over there. Hopefully all those alders we planted will help off set the carbon emissions. So the next blog from me will be from Dublin.

Sophie’s Wrap Up

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In Marlborough we are very lucky to have two consecutive long weekends, we have Labour weekend and then the following weekend is another long weekend due to Marlborough anniversary falling on Monday 1st November.

Before I carry on I must let you know that this weeks blog seems to be particularly Astrolabe based!

Having a short week after Simon’s party weekend was quite nice, although it meant we were very busy preparing for Marlborough Wine Weekend (a bi- annual wine event held on anniversay weekend http://www.wine-marlborough.co.nz/wineweekend/ )This event is a fantastic weekend to showcase the best that our region has to offer in the way of wine and food! As it is such a great event we brought six people over to thank them for their support that they have shown us over the years. This year we brought over Ian and Tim from United Cellars Sydney after they sold the most Astrolabe wine  during a promotion we held over there. We also brought down Mike and his wife Berni from New Plymouth and Andy and Braddon up from Christchurch, who are all very loyal supporters of the Astrolabe brand.

One of the many beautiful spots for the Marlborough weekendThe event ran from Friday to Sunday and was jam packed with tastings and other events in many different beautiful spots around Marlborough. We finished it off for our guests on Sunday by having them out to Astrolabe Farm for a big brunch and champagne before they all flew off to their respective locations.

On Monday afternoon I flew up to Auckland for Republic furniture’s 10th birthday party where Astrolabe had sponsored the wine. Bella and I went along as representatives it was a fabulous event to be a part of, the furniture was gorgeous and there was a great turn out of people.

The entertainment was also a highlight……

Entertainment at Republic

Entertainment at Republic

The rest of the week seems to have flown past, we have been very busy in the office with many many first of the month orders to be put through! And on Wednesday Jo Burzynska talked about our brand use of twitter and recommended us in the VIVA magazine of the New Zealand Herald- which incidentally no one in Blenheim stocks! Had to get a copy from someone off twitter! (see our facebook fan page for the article if your city/town does also not get the Herald…)

With all of this going on I have also been organising to go over to Nelson for a day next week to see our restaurants and retailers, and am trying to tee up a few Durvillea tastings while I am over there.

It is a beautiful day here today, so fingers crossed it continues into the weekend, especially as I am moving flats tomorrow….