A mid-harvest update

Harvest 201205 — Steve checking the Gewurztraminer

Although we are now almost three weeks into our 2012 harvest, we have actually only had 7 picking days so far! The weather has been fantastic and the conditions ideal – but for a little more ripening as well as for harvesting. Olly – our winemaker – decides what is ready and when to tell Vineyard Manager – Rich Williams – to send the crew out to take the fruit off the vine. So far we have harvested just small selections of Pinot Noir and Riesling, but most of the Gewürztraminer and all of the Sauvignon Blanc. All of the Pinot Gris has so far remained out on the vine enjoying the warm sunny days and cool nights of Autumn while developing that full flavour that the Misha’s Vineyard Dress Circle Pinot Gris is known for.

Once again we have a very international crew joining Misha’s Vineyard for harvest with people from France, Germany, Czech Republic, Malaysia, US, UK and Japan, as well as our regular Kiwi team.

Our friend Paula from the island of Phuket in Thailand has also traveled down to NZ to join the harvest team!

Misha has been keeping them well cared for with the morning “smoko” food prepared by our harvest cook – Edith, and she has been taking a lot of photos each day and posting them to Misha’s Vineyard Facebook page to allow the team to drop in on Facebook and see themselves hard at work!

The view from the vineyard at this time of year is quite simply spectacular. While it is hard work hand picking such a large area of grapes, the stunning New Zealand scenery with lake, mountains and Autumn colours keeps a smile on everyone’s face. Misha was so pleased with the view she sent a photo to TVNZ who used it on their weather segment during prime time news.

It looks like we will be into May before we declare the harvest complete this season. We will post an update with more photos on the Blog, but meanwhile please follow us on Facebook for (almost) daily updates and lots of photos.