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.

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

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 very 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

However as it is the beginning of spring and the growing season I thought it would be a good idea to give you an update of what is going on in the vines. Jeremy Hyland is our viticulturist and has worked along side Simon since their Gisborne days, coming up almost 20 years!

This is an update from Jeremy as to what is going on in our vineyards.

The last of the pruned vines will be wrapped down in the coming days bringing to an end what is our most labour intensive practice for the year. Unfortunately it is also the coldest period for our committed crews out in the field it has been a long four months. As they finish laying the foundation for the coming season on some of the later varietals, the early blocks of Pinot have the first buds bursting into life after what has been the warmest August since records began and so a new growing season begins.

Astrolabe farm this morning, pruned and frosty

 Jack Frost is definitely an unwanted guest from here on in. Other action in the field at present includes mulching of prunings, dropping of foliage wires, compost spreading, fert applications, weed control, trellis maintenance, any replanting, irrigation maintenance and in most cases getting the sheep out of the vineyard!

So thats a wee update from the vineyard, as Jason and I are away next week, Jane will be looking after the office, and updating you with whats going on.

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.

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