The Real Wine Fair has a lot to answer for. You see, it was the Real Wine Fair, held over three years ago, in May 2012, in London, that triggered my love for natural, organic, and biodynamic wine. I attended as a relative newbie to the natural wine scene where I encountered Adam and Julian … Continue reading What’s In Your Glass? 2015
“Everything we do is really to look after a very singular and unique piece of land,” says Nick Mills, from Rippon. Rippon is the name of (probably) the most beautiful piece of land in the world that grows wine. It’s located “on a bit of dead end road,” on the outskirts of the resort town … Continue reading ‘Articulating Place’ – Rippon, Wanaka, New Zealand
“Wine has this magical capacity to become a kind of liquid geography that can show the little nuances of a particular time and place, and I feel like it’s a moral failure not to aim for that,” says Mike Weersing, of Pyramid Valley in New Zealand. “You might not get there every time, but you must do … Continue reading ‘Transcendence’ – Pyramid Valley, Waikari, New Zealand (Part Two)
“I wanted to find a place where the voice was so loud that you couldn’t hear the grape,” says Mike Weersing, winegrower at Pyramid Valley, in New Zealand. After 15 years of searching, Mike and his wife Claudia, who were originally from the US, finally settled on an old sheep farm in Wairkari, North Canterbury. They … Continue reading ‘The Empyrean’ – Pyramid Valley, North Canterbury, New Zealand (Part One)
Bart Arnst is one of New Zealand’s leading organic grape growers. In another life, he may well have been a prop in the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team, or, perhaps a member of the Hells Angels MC. But, in this one, he plays the role of a gentle giant sitting amongst a sward of yarrow cover … Continue reading ‘Push The Progression’ – Bart Arnst and The Darling Wines of Marlborough, N.Z
There’s a hill in Hawke’s Bay that is divided in half by two names. It pushes high into the sky and looks out over the Gimblett Gravels and Bridge Pa Triangle, two of Hawke’s Bay’s most famous winegrowing sub-regions. Just over 30 years ago, this whole area was a literal wasteland. A speedway track, an army … Continue reading ‘Balance Above (a Beautiful Wasteland)’ – Bilancia/La Collina, Hawke’s Bay, N.Z.
“I think sometimes, as winemakers, we’re aware of certain wines that grip you and others that don’t, and sometimes you get to a point where you’re just absolutely bored, and you want to try and achieve something more…” Andrew Greenhough is a man with a Masters in Art History, who gave up his ambitions of … Continue reading ‘The Art of Wine’ – Greenhough, Waimea Plains, Nelson, N.Z.
Flying into Auckland, New Zealand’s most populous urban area, is nowhere near as dramatic a journey as it is, say, flying into Blenheim in Marlborough, or, indeed, Queenstown in Central Otago… especially at midnight, on a Sunday. But, what this city lacks in terms of steep, textured mountain ranges, which seem to scrape the sky with … Continue reading From The Bottom Up :: Sustainable Winegrowing in New Zealand
“There’s a really nice balance that a vineyard has between its rural setting and its closeness with the land, and wine as a product that you can take and showcase around the world,” says Nicholas Brown, winemaker at Black Estate. “And, it’s a product that New Zealand seems to be doing some pretty good … Continue reading ‘In Pursuit of Place’ – Black Estate, Waipara, NZ
“If I see something working (in the vineyard), I don’t need to go and find a (research) paper to make me believe what I see,” says Nick Paulin, viticulturist for Peregrine Wines in Central Otago, New Zealand. “When you walk through the vineyard and see a healthy looking vine and the fruit it’s producing, I … Continue reading ‘Seeing is Believing’ – Peregrine Wines, Central Otago, NZ
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