“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)
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
– ‘Why have you called your wine something people won’t be able to pronounce?’ – ‘Because, if they want to know it and drink it, they will.’ – – “I like to be difficult,” says Josephine Perry from Dormilona (‘door-me-low-nah’) wines, in Western Australia, “and I get accused of that a lot. I’ve always strived … Continue reading ‘Lazy Bones’ – Dormilona Wines – Margaret River – W.A.
“There’s something we don’t talk about, which I think is the most intriguing thing about wine,” says Colin Ross, Estate Manager at Seresin, in Marlborough, New Zealand. “We ignore the alcohol, the 12.5%, which is a spirit, and not all alcohol has the same effect, so, as potential drug growers it’s something we should all … Continue reading Happiness and the Human Touch – Seresin, Marlborough, NZ
The rain is incessant, from Sydney all the way south, past the the New South Wales/Victorian border. After 8 hours of driving, the tedium that is the Hume Highway, coupled with the drizzly conditions outside, it’s a welcome sight when we arrive in Beechworth, as lush green hills slope and roll underneath giant granitic boulders, … Continue reading Simple Tools, Elegant Complexity – Sorrenberg Wines
It is not necessary for an organic or biodynamic wine grower to be certified in order for them to sell their wines within Australia, or New Zealand. There are many wine growers who do not have certification, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t practice organic, or biodynamic viticulture in their vineyards. From a consumer … Continue reading Integrity from Paddock to Plate
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