Easter Eggs and Pinot Noir

Posted on April 6, 2010 by Meg

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.

Crafty work down on the farm.

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Jane

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 January 12, 2010 by Jane

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

aaaaaaaaargh…..A green tale

Posted on October 5, 2009 by Jane

There are several strands to the Durvillea story. So far you have met some of the people involved, the women of our family. From me you have heard a little about our life at Astrolabe and it is from here that the green strand evolves. Another aspect is that we are real people with a real story to tell. Durvillea is not brand that will disappear as the sauvalanche of 08 ebbs away.

It isn’t easy being green of any shade. So what shade is Durvillea? Well I’m not sure. I suppose it depends how you measure it. Claiming to be environmentally friendly is a dangerous game. How do you measure it? Do you need to pay up to be certified as carbon neutral , how do measure that carbon footprint? So what words do you use to describe a way of living.

For me this is part of my everyday life. So this is what do we do.

Jane's bike at Astrolabe Farm beside her Olive Oil and recycling baskets. How green is that?!

I recycle.I take my own bags shoping. I grow vegetables and keep chickens, produce our own wine and olive oil. I buy freerange pork and chicken. I ride my bike to work when I can. I always hang my washing outside or on the verandah. I don’t spray the roses or the olives. We mulch all the pruning’s from the property. We drive small cars. We have extensive gardens and trees. We are planting an area of the vineyard as a firewood coppice. The idea is that the carbon absorbed from the atmosphere as the tree grows balances the carbon released during combustion.

Alder trees for coppicing firewood

Sounds good, maybe apple green.

But…..

I use roundup to control weeds, I buy coffee from overseas, I fly overseas to sell wine and sometimes just for pleasure, the mulcher runs off a diesel tractor, I still buy commercial cleaning products. Okay pale apple green.

So that is how we live but what about the wine. Well, we have a vineyard and we are part of the sustainable vineyard programme as are all the vineyards we source fruit from. They are all certified or working towards it. There is one who isn’t, they are heading the biodynamic way. That makes them bright green and rapidly getting darker.

So when we began Durvillea I wanted to think about how we could make the product itself more environmentally sensitive, aware, lessen the footprint,be more sustainable. The easiest way I thought was to use a lighter weight bottle. Now traditionally the weight of the bottle is equated with quality of the wine. I don’t get it. I don’t really care how big the punt is. However the problem with using a light weight bottle means they are not as strong and when stacked in pallets this can be a problem. In our first run we had a few problems. However aside from the energy used to produce glass it means we can put more bottles in a container which means less carbon footprint. Hooray- a measurable thing.

Durvillea Cartons

Then we decided to use cardboard cartons without overgloss and a limited amount of inks. However when they get wet they get soggy. Then we used a label made from recycled materials but when the wine was put in an icebucket the labels scuffed. We have had to revert to a normal label until we can source a more suitable recycled paper. We have continued with the carton and a light weight bottle. We are trying. It’s not easy being green.

So what colour green am I? I haven’t done the sums, I am sensitive, aware, and my footprint is pretty average. I think sustainable is the word I would use. I think that makes me seaweed green.

PS. Meg is going to teach me to make cleaning products when she comes home next.

Jane's hedge

PPS. I’ve been trimming the hedges at Astrolabe Farm, and this is what I’m aiming for…..

Hedge friends (Edendale, Southland)

Down on the Farm – Cautionary Tales of Chicken Keeping (Part Two)

Posted on September 7, 2009 by Durvillea

The Famous Five

Janeolives

PART ONE HERE

Sunday 30th August – It is pouring with rain here and I have just been down to visit the chickens. Wet chickens look very dismal. They were hoping I would open the gate. So now they are huddled in the coop looking very disappointed with life.

After my saga with Hillary and Roger I was a little shattered and the flock was depleted to 2 remaining hens, Winnie and Dot. However Barb Sutton came to the rescue.

Now Barb is really a legend in her own time. Barb is proprietor of Birchmore Farm at Blind River and is the purveyor of a variety of farm produced goods at the local farmer’s market. After asking her where she bought her chickens from she turned up with 3 lovely ladies in cardboard boxes. Bess, black, beautiful and the leader of the pack. She was named after the black haired daughter in the poem “The Highwayman”. May, (Mayflower) the barred Plymouth Rock and Hettie, small, red and by far the smartest of all the hens. However as the mother of 3 redheads I firmly believe that this is not a coincidence.

chickengroup

So the girls established themselves and I decided that there was room for more. Egg megalomania. I wanted more. Also for some extraordinary reason I love chickens. So I bought 2 baby wyandottes, Mihipeka and Fran, and a very beautiful little black silkie. Now silkie’s have a ridiculous topnot that looks very much like a Russian ladies fur hat, think Dr Zhivago. I was tempted to call her Anna from Anna Karenina but Antionette she became. She was very sweet but definitely the odd one out. I was concerned about how she would fit in with the others who are all large bodied hens. Hens are not into individuality. Obviously this concerned her too as she drowned herself in the pond. I suspect she dipped her head in and the weight of the water in that fabulous topknot was her undoing. I was devastated and feeling that the trials of chicken keeping were just too much much. However the needs of the survivors meant I had to keep going.

Chickenonsink

I kept Fran and Mihipeka separate for 2 months and integrated them slowly with the others. Carefully lifting them as they roosted into the hen house. The pecking order establishment thing is an unpleasant process.

Daily I let the hens out to free range and one day I came home to find May ripped to bits in the olive grove. She had been killed by a dog and while I don’t have an eye witness account I suspect “Basil” a Jack Russell who sometimes roams to our vineyard. I am not fond of dogs especially small chicken killing dogs.

egg

So now I am down to my fabulous five. Egg production is up. They spend more time penned to protect them but it is roomy. I plan to add some girls soon.

Sunday 6th September: I began this post a week ago and the weather this weekend was fantastic. I have spent the weekend in the garden. Today I picked 2 spears of asparagus the perfect accompaniment to a poached egg. Winter has passed, spring is here and life is good down on the farm.

- Jane.

Sophie’s Wrap Up

Posted on August 28, 2009 by Durvillea

Another busy week! After arriving back into Blenheim from Hawkes Bay we were treated to a lovely afternoon tea with Jane and Simon, and a quick debrief of the last week as we had all been away.

Afternoon tea at Astrolabe Farm

The 2009 Durvillea Pinot Grigio was bottled on Monday, after worrying that the labels weren’t going to make it in time, we managed to get them flown down from Auckland for the 7.30am bottling! Lucky for me it’s the winemaker’s job to taste the wine off, so Tim was down there bright and early making sure it was all going to plan.

With the new vintage we have changed the labels so we can distinguish between the different varieties, the most common complaint from the 2008 vintage was that people couldn’t tell the varieties apart. So watch this space for the new labels, and the back label – my favourite part.

The rest of the week has felt rather rushed as it is another short week, I met up with Jules (@winewanker) on Tuesday at the Liquorland Top 100 competition where he has been stewarding, it was great to finally meet him after all the tweeting! We didn’t enter Durvillea into that competition, but I have been busy entering a few others, such as the Sydney International Wine Competition, and a few other national ones. So we are looking forward to the results.

vines

In the vineyards all is going well, Jeremy the viticulturist has been looking after the growers, and organising all of the pruning, most of our growers are almost all done now. This vintage in particular the pruning and vineyard management is going to be one of the most important ways to control the size of the crop, to make sure we don’t over produce. This was one of the most important messages that seemed to come out of Bragato, Marlborough in particular needs to make sure we don’t over crop and repeat the mistake of 2008; producing too much wine with out route to market .

Anyway better go, have just got home to Christchurch for the night, as I am off to Queenstown for the next four days on holiday, hopefully the weather will let us get some skiing in,

- Sophie

Down on the farm – Cautionary tales of chicken keeping (Part One)

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Durvillea

Roger We are just back back from a week in the North Island doing sales work. We began with a dinner for Astrolabe at Soto, a day in the trade, then down to Hamilton for a dinner at Domaine and more calls. I did my first Durvillea tasting at Te Rapa New World while Simon tasted Astrolabe at The Hamilton Wine Company. The fantastic thing about this industry is following the wine through from growing to serving it to customers. We finished off with a tasting at the Merchant of Taupo.

So home and one of my first jobs was to check on the chickens. They are starting to lay again and my two young ones for the first time. Now, I currently have 5 chickens. Three are Wyandottes, one red, one black. Beautiful but not the best layers.

Cautionary tale No1: if you want a reliable supply get Brown Shavers.

My chicken keeping began in an impetuous way. I was at dinner with friends when one, Lorraine, asked if anyone wanted a rooster. She had one that was being picked on and was in emergency housing until a new home could be found. I said I would have him. So Roger arrived to live in the dog run.

I loved Roger. He was beautiful and benign. At least I thought so.

Cautionary Tale No2: don’t judge a rooster by his tail feathers.

Roger in the olive grove

Next, Pete, an old chap at the gym, offered me some girlfriends for Roger and so I inherited 3 beautiful but aging golden laced wyandottes, Winnie, Dot and Hillary. Unfortunately Roger just couldn’t cope and began to attack Hillary. He become, I am sorry to relate, a sexual maniac. He attacked Hillary so badly she was almost dead. The chicken house looked like a scene from a horror movie . So it was obvious that poor old Hiliary needed to be put out of her misery. So I took the axe shaking, but just as I raised the axe, telling myself I had to do it, my sister grabbed the axe and did it for me. You see I had just had my hip replaced and in those early days there is a chance that you could dislocate with bending. I don’t think swinging an axe is recommended.

Winnie, Dot and Hillary

Cautionary tale No 3: It’s not all eggs, and fluffy chicks keeping chickens. You need someone who will dispatch the chickens (ie. a chicken executioner).

So now Roger was back in the dog kennel in isolation and despite my best efforts at rehabilitation he continued unrepentant to attack the remaining girls. So with the help of Sophie a contract was placed on his head and a young man from another winery did the deed.

Cautionary tale No4: stay on the right side of Sophie

: Roger and the girls

That’s all for part one, sorry it’s been a bit grim! I’ll be back soon with part two and more tales of life, death, and free-ranging.

- Jane.

Down on the farm (Astrolabe Farm that is)

Posted on August 16, 2009 by Durvillea

Blossom and olives by Nicola McLernon

Now, Meg normally writes these blogs but in attempt to let her focus on her Masters I have been given Monday mornings to fill you in on what is happening here on Astrolabe Farm. Astrolabe Farm is our home, vineyard, olive grove and gardens. It is the home to Astrolabe and Durvillea as well. Most of all it is where we live and it my responsibility to look after the property.

I don’t do this alone. Nick Taylor looks after the vineyard and olive grove and helps me with the big work in the garden. I love working on this property and the plan is that I should spend about half my week here. However this in not a 9-5 lifestyle. Work is dictated by the season. Right now Nick has finished pruning and there is vineyard maintenance to do and then olive pruning. The vineyard is about 4ha and we have three varieties: riesling, chardonnay and pinot noir. You can try them in Astrolabe’s Grovetown Riesling and Noble Riesling , Chardonnay and a small portion of the Pinot Noir.

Spring has come to the garden. The rhododendrons, camellias and daffodils are out. The plums are in full blossom and apricots just about out.I have bought the seed potatoes and laid them for sprouting. I need about a week in the garden to prevent the weeds getting away and seeds in. No luck this weekend as it is wet. However, this also has to happen around sales trips at this time of year, and the everyday office work.

Pruned Olive trees - photo Nicola McLernon

This morning I was packing to go to Auckland and I heard a an unusual bird call outside. The tui are back as the kowhai is flowering. Marlborough has few native birds in the valley and it is encouraging to have this pair living here. We have a pond on the farm which has been re-established with native plantings. Together with the large number of trees in the gardens and around the house this means that we are hopeful that tui will remain resident. Over winter we have had a white heron which often could often be seen on the pond.

In fact birds feature quite strongly here. Last autumn a pair of ornamental pheasants turned up. The male was ridiculously showy and has not been seen for some time. I suspect he had his comeuppance for being so flambouyant as I found tail feathers on the driveway. However Widow Pheasant is still to be seen pottering about in her suitably subdued colours. The hawks patrol the vineyard and olive grove daily and of there is a resident colony of Californian Quail in the hedgerows.

Planting garlic

However, most dear to my heart are my chickens but they are really a story in themselves. So welcome to Astrolabe Farm and next week it’s time for my Chicken Tales (a saga of feathers and fertility) ……..

- Jane

Winter gardening at Astrolabe Farm

Posted on July 29, 2009 by Durvillea

Here are a few pictures of us out and about on a frosty winter’s day.

Harvest ’09

Posted on June 30, 2009 by Durvillea

Claire & Arabella

Looking back towards our house from the vineyard

Here are a few pics from this year’s vintage. Picking the Pinot Noir at Astrolabe Farm this day were Jane, Bella & Meg. We also had much appreciated help from our cousin Claire and her partner David.

It was a great Marlborough day that day. We really do get great weather! We were handpicking obviously and because we are all somewhat ‘vertically challenged’ we didn’t bother taking the nets off – we just picked underneath.

Handpicking grapes is pretty social & pleasant work. The grapes are at a nice height and you aren’t carrying anything much around with you.

Just after these were taken we went inside for a delicious lunch of pinwheel scones made by Arabella & picked some walnuts & pears for Claire and David to take back to Christchurch with them.