A great harvest this year in Marlborough, New Zealand.
While rain in mid-April spelled an early finish for many winemakers, fortunately all of my fruit was in before the deluge.
I was lucky enough this year to have the assistance of Jose Hernandez-Gonzales my counterpart in the Ningxia Wine Challenge.
‘Jose the Spaniard’ was educated in Bordeaux and spends most of his time in Spain and Turkey, but I managed to lure him out to Marlborough for the harvest.
Jose quickly became accustomed to the late nights, double shifts and a ‘crafty’ beer (local beer) or two at the end of a long day's work. Thanks for your help mate.
I was also surprised to see more Chinese vintage interns in Marlborough this year. I was very interested to find out what part of China they were from, and why they chose to come to New Zealand for harvest.
Here's hoping their experiences in New Zealand will follow through to some of the of the wineries I've visited in China!
Some of the 2014 fruit is looking pretty special and I'm looking forward to blending in a couple of months. It's early days yet, but I've got some pretty high expectations. Cheers!