Welcome to the May 2009 issue of the Gladstone Vineyard Newsletter.

In this Issue

	Long time no catch up and lots to tell you about!
	Top accolades for our wines
	30th May - Local Wild Food Feast at Gladstone Vineyard
	Vintage Report 2009
	And that's not all...

In Other News

Watch out for our winter events at Gladstone Vineyard Cafe.  Music every month, and coming up soon the (re)launch of our Fume Blanc, now called "Sophie's Choice"  (www.gladstone.co.nz/news.html

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Long time no catch up and lots to tell you about!

It's been a busy and successful summer with lots to celebrate and lots to look forward to!

We all hope you are well and can take some time to catch up on what's been happening here and what is coming up at Gladstone Vineyard.

Top accolades for our wines

GLADSTONE VINEYARD'S TRACK RECORD FOR PINOT NOIR CONTINUES

Gladstone Vineyard’s track record for world class Pinot Noir continues unabated with yet another gold medal won on the world stage.  Our Gladstone Vineyard Pinot Noir 2007 has won gold at the one of the most prestigious and influential independent wine competitions, The International Wine Challenge in London.

This is significant international recognition once again for Gladstone Vineyard, and for Wairarapa Pinots.   Read more at http://www.gladstone.co.nz/news.html
 

GLADSTONE VIOGNIER GETS RAVE REVIEWS

Meantime, here in NZ, our Gladstone Vineyard Viognier 2008 has been tingling tastebuds and receiving rave reviews recently - and a fruit medley of descriptors! Winning a Silver Medal at the Royal Easter Show last month and high praise from John Hawkesby on National Radio, it hits its biggest punch in the May issue of Cuisine Magazine - one of only two five star wines.  With limited availability of this wine (only 100 cases were made), buy now or else you will be disappointed.  http://www.gladstone.co.nz/buyourwine.html

12,000 MILES PINOT(S) WOW THE AUSSIES

Meantime, over the ditch our 12,000 Miles Pinot Gris 2008 was highly commended (silver medal equivalent) and the 12,000 Miles Pinot Noir 2007 won a blue gold in the 2009 Sydney International Wine Competition this year.

For details of all our wine awards see www.gladstone.co.nz/currentwinesawards.html

30th May - Local Wild Food Feast at Gladstone Vineyard

Award Winning Chef Zane Saba cooks up a storm! Join us for a Six Course Degustation Dinner featuring local wild foods matched with Gladstone Vineyard's award winning wines on Saturday 30th May.  Places are limited and are selling fast.  So book now.

Details of the mouth watering menu are on www.gladstone.co.nz/wildfoodsmenu.html

 For more information and tickets, contact us now!
 

Vintage Report 2009

A frosty winter, early spring rains and a warm summer has lead to a magical vintage at Gladstone Vineyard, with yields up, exceptional fruit quality and some stunning wines emerging in the early stages of the winemaking process.

For the first time in a number of years a frost-free spring provided the vines with a stress-free growing season, setting them up strongly for budburst and flowering. Shoot fruitfulness was excellent with fruit set consistent and compact. Early indications of a large yield enabled us to thin crops to an appropriate level in December and early January to ensure premium growing conditions.

This year we introduced our inter-vine planting programme as part of our commitment to achieving soil health and pest control in an environmentally-friendly manner. Inter-row crops of lucerne, chicory, clovers, grasses and buckwheat enrich the soil and attract ‘friendly’ predator insects (native wasps in particular) that destroy some ‘unfriendly’ insects, such as the leafroller caterpillar which causes botrytis. Monitoring of our blocks showed no evidence of leafroller, compared with neighbouring blocks affected both at flowering and harvest.

Our canopies stood up well to the hot dry weather of December and January, with February rainfall and cooler March nights slowing the ripening and allowing flavour development. The fruit came through the rains well with no botrytis or splitting.

Harvest started on the 28th of March with about 10 tonnes of Sauvignon Blanc the first to hit the winery. We had a near perfect run with yields coming in close to estimates and fruit of consistently high quality. We had a great team of extremely efficient pickers, only one day of light rain and were lucky that most of the fruit was off the vines when frosts struck in late April – the worst hitting the thermometer at -3.8 C.
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In the winery, progress is well underway in finessing what we hope will be one of our best ever vintages. Our whites are showing great varietal definition and promise, with the aromatics expressing some real fruit depth and a broad flavour spectrum – from green apple/capsicum crispness to tropical richness – across our Sauvignon tanks thanks to staggered picking dates and block selection.

At this stage all reds are finished with primary fermentation and early pressing of some batches has begun. Our Pinot Noir fruit came in with the highest consistent quality we have yet seen from our own blocks and showing good ripe tannins and depth and our Merlot/Malbec tank looks a stunner with inky black colour and rich berry flavour.

So a very successful season, largely due to the skills and commitment of both Kyle Mason our vineyard manager and Gerhard Smith our winemaker.  Kyle has a great vineyard crew particularly Vicky and Shane.   And he thought our summer team was the best yet.   Meantime, in the winery Gerhard Smith was ably assisted through the long hours of vintage by his friend from South Africa Etienne Roux.  Thanks guys!

And that's not all...

It's been a full on 2009 so far  (hence the reason I am writing this after some time out at Taupo!)

Firstly we were delighted to welcome back Summer Shakespeare to Gladstone Vineyard in early February.  The grounds reverberated to the sounds of Henry V and his troops as they fought the French at Agincourt.  Complete with a stage debut by our dogs Sophie and Baxter, a horse on stage and a World War II army jeep, it was definately the rural version.  (For those who know the play, the Dauphin of France presented the tennis balls to Henry from the balcony of our house - quite fun!)  We hope to see them all back next year.  Though we don't yet know what the play will be.

Then it was off to the UK for what turned out to be a very successful sales trip.  Despite prior misgivings about the state of the economy, the mood had lifted after the new year and new and existing customers were very positive in their praise of our wines.   With sales visits, presentations and wine dinners from St Andrews to Bristol and London with plenty of  stops in between, it was a busy time.  Thankfully we arrived after the snow and were able to get around easily.

And then we were home for the last of the summer in time to enjoy a happy and successful day at the third Wairarapa Wines Harvest Festival in March.  It's a great event and is rapidly developing an impressive reputation.  A relaxed family affair in a beautiful setting, it is a chance to relax with friends and enjoy some of the fabulous food and wine from the Wairarapa.  Put 20th March 2010 in your diary now.   And plan on joining us at the 4th Festival! 

And then it was harvest.....