It was great to see some sun yesterday. It bought the visits out to the cellar door. Only challenge was the major power outage but the nice thing is you don't need power to sit in the vines having a platter and tasting wine.
Came across this interesting article by Tim Atkin- Syrah: New Zealand's other great red via @nzwine
A big thank you to @NZWINE for posting the link to this article on Twitter. Here is the link:
http://timatkin.com/articles/article.html?cat=Latest%20articles&id=535#
New artwork by Lisa Matthys now on display in our tasting room. You have to see it.
Yesterday we hung our latest Lisa Matthys piece at the tasting room. It is stunning and you really have to see it to appreciate it.
To get a sense of scale I had Simon stand in front of it.
Anyone got a big enough lounge to fit it in?
We also have a number of Lisa other works in her "Bottle and Glass" series
Release of our 2010 Rose is getting closer.
Yesterday I signed off on the label for our 2010 Rose and we are planning to bottle next month.
We are aiming to release the Rose at the Hot Pink breast cancer fundraiser being held in Hastings in Sept. Our last Rose was hugely popular and sold out very quickly which is very exciting. This years release is looking as good if not better.
2010 Vintage - Motorised vineyard buggy (via @sandihurstwine )
If I let my guys see this they will all want one. I could just see Ted wandreing down the rows giving the pruners a hurry up.
The ABCs of chardonnay - Life & Style - NZ Herald News
via nzherald.co.nz
It's nice to see someone singing the praises of Chardonnay for a change. Jo Burzynska writes about her experiences at Gisbornes Chardonnay Challenge. As she says - "I'm entreating wine drinkers to Appreciate Beautiful Chardonnays!"
While we did not enter any wines I am always keen to see this wonderful variety getting attention.
Wine Tasting at Montrose in New Plymouth
We had a great night last Thursday doing a tasting with the team (James, Anne & Layne ) at Montrose along with a group of their regular clients. The good thing was that with just 15 people attending it was a nice intimate size where not only did they get to listen to me but I had the opportunity to actual converse with each of them and get some feedback on the wines.
To make the night a bit more interesting I took our unreleased 08 reds (Merlot and Syrah) which they got to taste beside the 07’s. Through this we were able to highlight the difference between the two vintages. I receive some great comments on the 08 but the 07’s were the standouts along with our 08 Chardonnay.
I also took them through a tasting of your food range and as usual the Dukkahs and Chardonnay Mustards went down a treat. For those of you looking for Salvare Wines and Food products in New Plymouth you can now purchase them at Amphora and Montrose.
Despite what the Irish rugby writer wrote about NP I think it is a lovely city.
Heading off to Taranaki tomorrow via Wanganui (or Whanganui)
As winter sets in it is time to hit the road and catch up with some of our retailers around the country. This is something I don't get a chance to do enough of in the summer because we are flat out at the tasting room.
This week I amd doing a tasting at the very funky wine bar Montrose in New Plymouth so if you are in the area get along.
I will also be catching up withe the ladies at Liquorland in Wanganui and David at Five Star in Stratford.
If you know any retailers, resrtaurants or bars between Hawkes Bay and New Plymouth that I should be talking to drop me a line.
We had a group of 30 students fro Elon University in North Carolina visit the cellar door on Friday......
We had a group of 30 students from Elon University in North Carolina visit the cellar door on Friday. The interesting thing was that until just before the arrived I didn't realise they were coming to find out what it has taken us to establish a new winery and wine brand from scratch. They are travelling through NZ studying the food and beverage industry.
They were a fun bunch of kids and it was really interesting talking to them about what we have done to establish the Salvare brand, how we make our wines, what is involved in running the vineyard etc. I got the impression the part they enjoyed the most was when they got to taste the wines followed by a tasting of our olive oil and dukkah etc.On a positive note a big proportion of them like chardonnay and not savvie. Perhaps the young will push back against what their parents are drinking and return to chardonnay or even Viognier!
Hopefully my talk did not scare them off the wine business and perhaps we will see a few of them back down in the bay.(Note: If any of you reading this post are one of the students please go to our Facebook page and tag yourself)
