I arrived in Queenstown to a good English winter: rain showers, low cloud, and a temperature of 8 C. There was snow on top of the hills. This is summer…
Four affordable Kiwi Pinot Noirs
As I write, I’m at the departure gate waiting to embark on a rather long journey to Kiwi land. So a chance to write up four affordable New Zealand Pinot…
Chile day 2, Errazuriz’s Aconcagua Costa property
Day two of the Chile trip was spent in the Aconcagua, with Errazuriz. We began at the relatively new 230 hectare (of planted vines) Aconcagua Costa property, just 12 km…
Natural wines from Haywire, Okanagan Valley, Canada
I’ve been impressed by the wines from Haywire in the Okanagan Valley, in Canada’s BC. Based at the Okanagan Crushpad, where their team also makes wine for other people, they…
Canada versus New Zealand: two top Pinot Noirs from 2011 compared, and a lesson learned
Three nights ago I opened this pair of Pinots, both from the 2011 vintage. They’re wines that I’d cellared. The first is the Te Muna Road Pinot from Craggy Range,…
Vintage at Norman Hardie (3)
Over the course of four days of vintage, I was exposed to a number of the stages of making wine. I spent the second evening at the sorting table. Pinot…
Video: making Pinot Noir at Norm Hardie’s
Two short videos illustrating the red winemaking process here at Norm Hardie’s in Prince Edward County, Canada. This is Pinot Noir being processed. The first video shows the punching down…
Two Pinot Noirs from Folding Hill, Central Otago, NZ
I visited Folding Hill, in the Bendigo sub-region of Central Otago, back in January 2014. It’s the project of two medical folk, emergency doctor Tim Kerruish and his wife Nikki,…
Folium: interesting dry-grown wines from New Zealand’s Marlborough region
Takaki Okada came to New Zealand’s Marlborough region in 2003, and began working with Clos Henri. In 2010, he bought an 8.5 hectare vineyard that had been established by Fromm…