Rebecca Salmond News

Winter 2011

The harvest of 2011 is well behind us now, and what a great vintage it was in Marlborough. For us anyway yield is not an issue as we drop crop to a strict regime of kilos per vine. The weather was kind on the lead up to harvest, we had a long even ripening with little to no disease pressure. This is our second year heading towards organic certification, and we have had one of the cleanest crops ever!

Our highly organised and pedantic vineyard manager Richard also had something to do with that, but nature was kind in Marlborough.

The Sauvignon Blanc was cropped at its lowest level this year and in the tank is looking great with powerful uplifted aromatics and although completely dry has a lovely fruit weight and richness often obtained by residual sugar.

The Pinot Gris similarly was cropped thinned to stricter levels than before and we are also seeing some really concentrated fruit flavours and depth. The Pinot Noirs look akin to the 2009 vintage with a lovely elegance and structure even at this youthful stage in barrel.

Gisborne was a little more testing and although we picked over two days instead of the one, we were only able to select half the fruit we wanted. Despite this it is shaping up well in barrel.

I had a great trip to China in June and experienced the wonderful hospitality of Yunding Bay, our distributors in Ningbo. This is a city of 6 million just 3 hours south of Shanghai, centred in the Yangtze Delta and is China’s second largest port. It was quite a buzz visiting Shanghai for the first time, and was quite refreshing to experience such energy and positivity in the business world and the construction was phenomenal.

Yunding Bay have set up in Ningbo probably the biggest display of New Zealand Wine in China. A fantastic effort of private enterprise along with Chinese assistance. Wine consumption is catching on and particularly Chinese returning from time spent overseas and among the business people. The Moutai (rice wine) is still consumed at a traditional banquet and is seriously dangerous for the uninitiated (suggest small serves).

Wine wise we are selling through quickly with the Chardonnay there must be some kind of revival happening here! Our Odyssey Marlborough Pinot Noir 2009 Michael Cooper says it is our Best yet! And with 5 Stars we are pretty happy. The Homer wines are hitting the spot with many and offering great value for money.

Very exciting times ahead with the Rugby World Cup and the influx of people that it will bring into the cities and our restaurants and bars, it will be a great time to head ou t... ENJOY!