Bad Rock Blog

July and August have been reasonably cold and wet in the Hawke's Bay with 100mm of rain in one day and minus 5.5 deg frosty morning’s burrrrr – feel cold just typing that out.

Around our vineyards we have been pruning, mulching, composting and a spot of repairs and maintenance - trellis and posts etc. Budding time will be here in only 3-4 weeks and so will the frosts therefore we are getting prepared and checking all our frost fighting equipment.

I flew to the US for market work for the last two weeks of July, covering Illinois, Missouri, and California! First time for me in Chicago and absolutely loved the place. Chicago had a real heart and friendliness that you would not expect from the third largest US city of almost 3 million peps. Wild Rock Wine was very well received and we will now be in the Stefani and Gibsons restaurant groups, which is fantastic. Plus some of the top off-premise accounts like Printers Row Bottle Shop, Whole Foods and Copperfields. It was awesome going for a morning run along the white sanded beach with the clear fresh water of Lake Michigan and the back drop of high risers. If you are in Chicago get up to the Trump Towers and have a glass of Wild Rock Cupids Arrow Pinot Noir and soak up the killer view.

Kansas City Missouri was a lovely spot, a humid tree filled city with plenty of art galleries and cultural focus and filled with friendly helpful people. Got to say though the food was too good and it was fortunate for the body that I was only there for a few fun days. Check out Wild Rock wine in the American restaurant, Blue Stem restaurant, Reverse, Extra Virgin bar & restaurant and Gomers bottle stores.

Sunny California was a blast, teaming up with Chris Alton our representative from our US importer Kobrand, we had huge success in the most competitive market in the US - California has 12% of the total US population. First up was San Diego – you can now get Wild Rock in Holiday Wine Cellar, Major Market, Season Market, Ostra restaurant …the list goes on. Up to Orange County – my favourite restaurant, Habana, rocks out Wild Rock Cupids Arrow Pinot Noir! You can also get our range in Wine Exchange, Wine Gallery, Southern Hemisphere Wines, Hyatt Newport and the Vendome group. LA was everything promised and then some, beautiful people everywhere and some serious flash cars – what recession eh! Enjoyed a fun surf at Trestles with dolphins and followed up with tacos and beer in the sun – niiiice. If you are in LA – check us out in one of the hottest spots the Delphine Restaurant in W Hotel or K&L Wines for some takeaways!

Off to San Francisco where I worked Marin County 20 min north of the city and fell in love with the area – especially after a four hour mountain bike ride in the birth place of mountain biking, Mt Tamalpais covered in redwoods and cedar and natural looking architecture no commercial chain stores. You can get Wild Rock at United Markets, Andy’s and Jolly king Liquor. Up to Napa for the night and our craziest fun night out in the US. Napa was pumping with out door bands and fun people everywhere, particularly loved the modern sushi at Morimotos. Lastly down into San Fran and sold into one of the most popular wine bars Bin38 and some cool organic stores like Thom’s  and Real Food Co on Polk st.

Fun times with great wines.

Cheers

Ash Ireland
The Wild Rock Guy

#wine, #NZwine

All of the grapes were in and pressed by early June in what was regarded as a gentleman’s harvest with a very fortunate outcome. We were looking down the barrel of a challenging vintage when a combination of great viticulture and an Indian summer prevailed and an exceptional quality vintage was the outcome.

After tasting the 8 different components for our 2010 chardonnay (that is, separate blocks from our various Hawkes Bay Vineyards) it hit me…our winemakers love making Chardonnay. Both Rod and Matt had big grins on, not unlike myself, and were really enjoying complexities and variables involved with making chardonnay. Interesting to note that now we do not try to record the percentage of malolactic fermentation and manage that separately, instead we allow it to occur naturally and taste to determine the level of malo to consider before blending.

Malolatic fermentation (MLF) is the secondary fermentation or bacterial fermentation (rather than yeast fermentation) brought about naturally through temperature control of the wine in barrel. MLF is the conversion where malic acid (sharp fruit acidity) is converted to softer lactic acid (creamy buttery rich tasting).

Tasting the 2009 Merlot and Malbec from barrels (for our Gravel Pit Red) and the 2009 Cupids Arrow Central Otago Pinot Noir confirmed that this is indeed a great vintage and the vibrant fruit have integrated well with the oak. The Cupids Arrow Pinot is one of our most popular wines and the 2009 is tasting outstandingly huge with massive black fruit, spice and herb and soft tannins already so watch out.

I am part of a couple of wine groups and one of which gets together for an annual Winter Wild Food Festival which is a delicious mix of easily accessible local game matched with divine wine. This event is coming up this weekend so for the past couple of weekends I have been out shooting with friends & family doing the hunter gatherer thing for the fest. Wild Rock Strugglers Flat Martinborough Pinot Noir with savoury, earthy, mushroom, truffle notes will be a great match for some of the rich game. See photos below.

Cheers
Ash
The Wild Rock Guy
#wine, #NZwine