HD-Film Johner Estate – New Zealand – Harvest 2008

The Harvest 2008 at Johner Estate New Zealand from Patrick Johner on Vimeo.

If you would like to see some Information of the 2009 Harvest please click here…
In the beautiful Wairarapa Valley in New Zealand near Masterton, at the end of East Taratahi Road continuing into Dakins Road, pass the cliffs and the harvest festival showgrounds and finally end up at Johner Estate.
Welcome to Johner Estate.
Continue reading “HD-Film Johner Estate – New Zealand – Harvest 2008”

Almost finished our Pinot Noir

The vineyards

Harvest in the Wairarapa is speeding up. There are some vineyards with huge crops and Botrytis infections. But those who properly take care of their vines and do some green harvest, just have perfect grapes.

We have almost finished our Pinot Noir and the pressure of fresh botrytis will increase every day, especially if we have warm damp weather.

Morning fog followed by sunny weather is a beautiful sight, but the grapes mature rapidly and the skins start to get thin and crack open. A good entrance for Botrytis.

Picking Pinot Noir Grapes in New Zealand

This year, looking at the vines, we thought, we would have a larger crop than normal, but the berry sizes were between 6mm and 12mm, resulting in low weights once again.

The crop levels from Pinot Noir range from 2 to 3 tons per hectare. Brix levels were between 22,5 Brix (96°Oe) and 24,2 (104°Oe) and the fruit was very ripe with wonderful intense flavours.

We hardly had any shrivelled dry raisins giving grapes the taste you would normally get in Pinot Noir from Central Otago.

Just intense blackberry and blueberry flavours deriving from the alluvial free draining gravels.
As we don’t like too many stalks/stems/striggs, unripe berries, well green components, we also sort out these after the destrigging machine…

sorting-table-2.jpg

At the same time we have also been assembling our 2007 Pinot Noirs, deciding what will go into the reserve Pint Noir and what will go into the normal Gladtsone Pinot Noir .

Can you imagine the chaos of barrel sorting in the middle of harvest?

Inside view of the winery

Harvest Special … FREE … Guided Vineyard and Winery Tour with a small Winetasting

During our New Zealand Harvest from 1st. April until 3rd May 2008 from Monday-Saturday 10am – 5pm…

… we cordially invite you to have an in depth view of how we pick, handle and vinify excellent grown low yield high quality Pinot Noir and our other Grape varieties…

Harvest Special 2008 Free Vineyard and Winery Tour Flyer

Continue reading “Harvest Special … FREE … Guided Vineyard and Winery Tour with a small Winetasting”

Sauvignon Blanc 2008… The big lot.

Yesterday evening at the local pub, we tasted some of our colleagues Sauvignon Blancs. Absolutely fascinating, what kind of styles our neighbours make. Some very similar to our 2007 elderberry style. But then also some with more tropical aromas. In one case, I had never scented this pure intense Grapefruit flavor before. So with all these impressions in mind, it was time to rack off the main lot of Sauvignon Blanc.

The juice was cold settled in 1000l tanks, which were stored in a cooling container.

transport tanks in the winery Continue reading “Sauvignon Blanc 2008… The big lot.”

Die Ernte 2008 geht los!!!… Our Vintage started in New Zealand

Seit letzten Samstag werden die Sauvignon Blanc Trauben geerntet. Mit Mostgewichten um die 96°Oe also ca. 13 % Vol. und wunderbaren Aromen nach Holunder, Litschi, Zitrus und etwas tropischen Früchten.

Einen kleinen Einblick gibt es im folgendem Film:

We have started with our New Zealand vintage 2008. First grape picked were Sauvignon Blanc with around 23 Brix. Great ripe aromas of elderberry, litschi, citrus, and tropical fruit.

For a more visual view, please look at the follwoing film: