Harvest 2010 - Raupo Creek Pinot Noir

After a week of warm days we began picking our still wines on Monday. First in was our reserve pinot noir block, picked from the top of the hill in our Raupo Creek Vineyard, and cropped at Grand Cru Burgundy levels.




Each bunch was hand-picked and berries hand selected. Pictured here are some of our vineyard staff doing a berry selection.

Our Viticulturalist, Colin Ross, is enjoying the opportunity to taste grapes from our different Pinot Noir blocks. He says "the taste profile across contours and rows is a truly fascinating thing. The textural expression is so amazingly evident in the Pinot and every dip, hollow and hillock tells a story."

Harvest 2010 - Vintage Staff

Another member of the winery harvest team, is a returnee to the Seresin team from 2009.

Introducing Axel May...

Axel returns after spending the year at home in Rheinhessen, in Germany, where he has been working in his family winery - Weingut Steinmūhle.

Here Axel is loading some of the hand-picked MOMO Sauvignon Blanc into our press - giving it a bit of gentle prodding with the rake when needed!

Axel says it is great to be working with such a fabulous team this year - both in the winery and the vineyard. He says he it is exciting to come back and see how the wines have developed - that 2009 was a great vintage, and he's enjoying getting to taste the wines one year on.

Harvest 2010 - Vintage Staff

Another of the three harvest additions to our winery team is Jacopo Dallicani.

Jacopo comes from Soave in Verona, North East Italy. He studied winemaking at Conegliano Italy - the oldest Italian university teaching winemaking. Before joining us, Jacopo was travelling the world working with wine, having done several vintages in Italy, Australia, France, and New Zealand. He arrived at Seresin in January, and has been working in the vineyard before moving into the cellar for harvest.

He's shown here taking the first of our MOMO fruit for 2010 - Sauvignon Blanc which has just been handpicked from our Home Vineyard.

Jacopo says he is excited to be working at Seresin, and really enjoying the opportunity to learn about and work with biodynamics.

And as well as being rather handy in the winery, Jacopo makes a mean lasagne... He's a very handy guy to have around!

The Winners of the Capital Awards

We had the pleasure of being involved in the 2010 Capital Awards, which celebrate the best of hospitality in our capital city. The winners were annouced last night at a ceremony in Wellington.

The Seresin Award for outstanding wine list went to Matterhorn. The man responsible for this list, Stephen Wong was selected as the best Wellington Sommelier.

The award for the outstanding restaurant went to Capitol and Logan Brown was recognised for the best kitchen team and their outstanding contribution to Wellington Hospitality.

The ceremony was followed by an after party at the Skyline Restaurant, guests enjoyed a variety of refreshments including the 2008 Seresin Sauvignon Blanc and celebrated into the wee hours of this morning.

For a full list of awards and winners visit the Capital Awards website.

Harvest 2010 - Vintage Staff

Every vintage we welcome several new faces to Seresin. Our vintage interns come to us from all over the world, bringing with them international experience and lots of enthusiasm.

This year three new staff will assist our Winemaker, Clive Dougall, Assistant Winemakers, Carlos Orgiles and Alexis Goodman and Cellarhand, Lars Gabrielsson over the busy months of harvest.

Introducing Lindsey Sesin....

Lindsey joins us from Rudd Winery in the Napa Valley, and will spend the next couple of months working in our laboratory and assisting in the cellar.

Lindsey says harvest at Seresin offers her the opportunity to be part of a small hands-on team and the chance to learn about biodynamic viticulture and winemaking.

2010 is Lindsey's fourth vintage and her second in New Zealand.

Harvest 2010 - Sampling

With our first grapes now in the winery it is even more important for us to closely monitor the progress of our vineyards as they ripen.

Every morning our Laboratory Intern, Lindsey Sesin, selects different grape samples from our vineyards. Each sample is juiced by hand and tested for sugar and acidity. Our winemaking and viticultural team then spend a lot of time tasting - both the juice and grapes, to make sure that the flavours are perfectly balanced before we pick.

Pictured here is a Pinot Noir Sample from our Raupo Creek Vineyard, which should be ready for harvesting in about seven days.

First Day of Harvest 2010

We gave the bees the day off and went for the grapes this time! A beautiful bright and sunny Marlborough morning marked our first day of harvest for this season. We lovingly picked a little bit of Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to go into our sparkling wine base.

Honey Harvest

One of my most memorable days at Seresin was a couple of weeks ago, when I was fortunate to be involved in our first ‘Honey Harvest’. This was my first ‘official’ visit to life in the hive. Rob and I teamed up in our white bee suits and set about taking out the frames that were the fullest for processing. We took out 18 frames all together, brushing the bees from them with a paintbrush! The bees were very patient with us while we fumbled in our first ever harvest. One bee decided that he liked the look of Rob’s legs and got herself stuck down his sock – and a red mark resulted…

The processing of the honey was made able by a kind professional bee man down the road. He leant us a hand powered centrifuge to spin out the honey from the frames. The smoko room was on lock down as the bees could smell honey in the air and came to peacefully investigate the logistics of getting their liquid gold back.

For me, I was grateful to take time to remember and ponder on how wonderful and magical Mother Nature can be. Needless to say we are all about to enjoy 30L of Seresin artichoke influenced honey!

By Leisha Van der spek

It's Pinot we love

Pinot Noir is an incredibly beautiful grape, and a beautiful wine - we love it. It's called the heartbreak grape for good reason, it is a challenge to make and an even bigger challenge to grow but the quest to make the best possible Pinot Noir is something all of us at Seresin are driven by.

A new era commenced at Seresin in 2006 when Clive Dougall took over as winemaker and Colin Ross, our vineyard manager, joined us from a biodynamic vineyard in Western Australia. 2007 was their first vintage together at Seresin. From this vintage six different Pinot Noir were made. The 'Leah' named for Michael Seresin's daughter, is a blend of fruit from our three vineyards; 'Rachel', after Michael's mother, is a Pinot made from the best portions available from our Estate each year. From each of our three vineyards we have also produced a single vineyard wine; the 'Tatou', 'Home' and 'Raupo Creek' Pinot Noir illustrate the characteristics of our different sites and soils.


The unique conditions of the 2007 vintage allowed us for the first time to make a wine we have called 'Sun & Moon'. Cropped at a minimal one bunch per shoot or less, we believe this wine to be our best expression of Pinot Noir. It will only be made when this beautiful heartbreak grape allows us.

Internationally renowned UK winewriter Jamie Goode recently had the opportunity to taste the 'thrilling line-up' of all six of these wines, and has published his tasting notes and reviews on his blog. To see his reviews, check out his blog.

Green Wine for St Patrick's Day

It is St Patrick's Day next week and if you're looking for something 'green' to drink check out the recommendation from CBS's Wine Guy, Matthew Horbund.

Seresin Talk

In the last couple of weeks, we have been getting some good coverage on the internet - here are a couple of interesting snippets for you...

Recently, our winemaker Clive met with Jayson Bryant from Wine Vault TV, to talk all things biodynamic. Jayson has put a couple of videos on their website of them talking and tasting some Seresin wines. In the first video, Clive and Jayson taste two of our Pinots - Leah and Rachel. And then in the second video they taste our 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, Reserve Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris.

And it seems our Gewurztraminer is proving popular in the UK. Old and New World is a wine blog in the UK dedicated to finding the best wines from the old and new world. They publish a red and a white 'wine of the month' and the Seresin Gewurz was the white for February! They say it 'should be enough to win converts' of non-Gewurz fans, and 'gives Alsace a run for its money'. Click here to see the rest of the post.

Enjoy!

Wellington's Excellent Hospo Industry

We're very proud to be involved in the 2010 Capital Awards.

The awards celebrate everything that is fundamentally hospitality in Wellington; from the ground roots kitchen team and baristas through to the award for the outstanding contribution to the Wellington hospitality scene.

The Seresin Award for 'Outstanding Wine List' will be given to a list that reflects the individual style of it's establishment, while being diverse, balanced, interesting and presented in the appropriate glasses, by educated staff.

Have your say and nominate your stars in Wellington hospo through the Capital Awards website.

The Marriage of Figaro

We're proud to support a special Opera event in Days Bay Garden, Wellington.

New Zealanders will get the opportunity to experience the European tradition of outdoor opera, with a fully-staged production of Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' in a beautiful old-established sheltered garden in Days Bay.

The opera is produced by Rhona Fraser and directed by Sara Brodie, with a cast of professional singers. 'The Marriage of Figaro' will be performed on the 12th, 13th and 14th of March at 5:00pm. Guests are invited to bring a picnic to enjoy in the gardens in the dinner interval, along with a glass of Seresin wine.
Tickets are priced at $50. To book and for further information visit the Days Bay Opera website.

Joanna Simon on Wine

UK Wine writer, Joanna Simon, recently tasted our 2008 Leah Pinot Noir.

She described it as "very pure, very impressive and still young. This is fragrant with roses and summer berries and has a palate of sweet red fruits, savoury mineral flavours, polished oak, a fine acid structure, length and intensity. The hand on the label signifies hand-grown, hand-picked and hand-made (which includes wild yeast fermentation and 11 months maturation in French oak barrels). Drink over the next four years. Gives red burgundy a run for its money."

For more from Joanna check out her website here.

Pinot Noir 2010

This week, lots of the Seresin team are in Wellington for Pinot Noir 2010. It's a 4 day celebration of Pinot Noir - lots of tastings, culinary events, speakers, and thought-provoking discussion. It's also a great chance to meet and catch up with other Pinot-philes from around the world; wine writers, winemakers and consumers alike. One such bunch we caught up with was the lovewine team, who spoke to our winemaker Clive about our Pinot Noir. Check out the video here.

Someone else we caught up with was Jamie Goode, the blogger behind WineAnorak. He has written a wrap up of Pinot Noir 2010, Day 1. See if you can spot anyone from Seresin, or the lovely things he has to say about our wines...

SwirlSavvy Anu a big fan of NZ

For SwirlSavvy guest wine blogger Anu Pohani, the best wine choice is always something from New Zealand. She has been writing about some 'shining examples' of NZ Sauvignon Blanc - one of which was the Seresin Marama. Anu thought it was 'absolutely delicious' and 'really showed the care that the Seresin team put into all their wines'. Thanks Anu!

Take a look at the rest of what she has to say about the Marama, and the other wines she tried.

The end of 2009

Tongan Christmas Party
We thanked Unity in Harmony (the Tongan families) for all their hard work over the past year, with a massive BBQ feast and a toast to Michael Seresin. Michael was presented with a Tapa coth from the Tongan families. The cloth and presentation was beautiful - a very moving and special moment for us all.

Christmas Milking

Life on the farm carried on over Christmas. While most of the Seresin crew had holidays, a few of us took over the holiday milking, animal patrol, irrigation and garden roster. The Xmas morning milking crew celebrated with a pancake (fresh eggs and milk) breakfast before commencing the Christmas milking and even the cows got into the spirit of things (with a little encouragement from us of course!).

WWoofers

We say a HUGE and heartfelt thank-you to Robert our Canadian wwoof-er, who completed some pretty major and physical tasks for us while here for a month. The last we saw of Robert, he was hitching out of town in a Santa suit and a backpack.

Our new wwoofers are Rachel and Richard from the UK. We hope they enjoy our time here with us and we look forward to many discussions over morning tea.
By Leisha

Two weeks WWOOFing at Seresin

We've been WWOOFing at Seresin for two weeks now.

It's great to see all the diversity going on - this year is the first year that organic vegetable patches have been planted in between some of the vines to feed the troops at Seresin. As a result there's lots of work to be done and we've spent plenty of time potato mounding - but it's all worth it when you take home your dinner after digging it up!

The diversity of the place has meant that we had a chance to try out loads - from wire lifting and leaf plucking of the vines to milking the cows, pruning the olive trees and harvesting wheat and barley. Plenty of experiences for us to take away, and the wine is pretty good too!

The staff have been very welcoming and spent time going through tasks with us. Thanks Colin and the team for a fab intro to Seresin and biodynamics, we look forward to hearing about how you get on with all the new projects.

By Rachel and Rich, WOOFers from Oxford, UK. January 2010.

Seresin Landfall Residency

This new year, we are pleased to announce the second annual Seresin Landfall Residency. The Residency was established in 2009 with Otago University Press, giving a writer the opportunity to spend six weeks in either Tuscany or Marlborough.

The residency is the result of Michael Seresin's desire to support the work of Landfall magazine, and his commitment to the arts and creative endeavour. Michael says "I wanted to provide a place where writers feel comfortable and can write. We are fortunate to have access to two beautiful properties, which I hope will provide some inspiration for a writer during their six week stay."

Michael's father, Harry Seresin, was an early subscriber and avid reader of Landfall from the 1950's. The Seresin Landfall Residency honours his memory, and that of the Landfall founder, Charles Brasch, who helped establish New Zealand's first literary residency, the Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago.

Prominent New Zealand writer, and the Residency's inaugural winner, C. K. Stead says "My association with Landfall goes back as far as 1951 when I first offered founder Charles Brasch poems and has continued ever since. I feel very enthusiastic about the idea of a Residency set up to honour both the magazine and Harry Seresin."

The residency is open to writers over twenty-one, working in any genre, who have been previously published. To read more about the Residency, or for information about how to apply, please visit the Otago University Press website.

Eight new additions to the Seresin family

Quackles, our Indian Runner Duck, hatched 8 very cute ducklings yesterday.

As well as providing eggs and endless entertainment, our Ducks spend most of their days inside our vegetable garden and orchard, forraging for insects and protecting our vegetables and fruit from pests.

By Erin

2008 Seresin Raupo Pinot Gris

We have just released 394 bottles of a new Pinot Gris, named after our Raupo Creek Vineyard in the Omaka Valley.

Through regular tasting of our 2008 Pinot Gris fermentations, we identified three barrels, which we thought had the potential to develop into something special. These wines were left to mature for a further 9 months in barrel. After a total of 15 months in aged oak the resulting wines all presented different complexities, but were all off-dry, rich and heavily textured showing the qualities of traditional Alsatian Pinot Gris.

We recently sent a bottle to wine writer and MW Jane Skilton who said " I could almost convince myself this wine was from Alsace because it combined the richness of fruit with really great texture and interest on the palate. There is a degree of complexity that raises it above most other NZ Pinot Gris. Indeed I am struggling to think of a comparable example . . . ."

For her full review please check out the link and if you'd like to try a bottle visit our website.

Frances restaurant

We love good news (Who doesn't though, I suppose). And we especially love good news when it involves a friend of ours!

Melissa Perello (see left) is a chef who has received much acclaim for her time as Head Chef at Charles Nob Hill, and Executive Chef at Fifth Floor - both fine-dining restaurants in San Francisco. She lead the team at Fifth Floor to receive a Michelin Star in 2006.

In 2007 Melissa was Guest Chef at our Waterfall Bay restaurant, and she certainly left a lasting impression with her culinary masterpeices. MJ (our General Manager) often talks about one of her dishes - crayfish served with a strawberry consomme - and says it is among the most memorable dishes of his life.

Since then, she has been working towards opening her own restaurant, and this week doors opened! We are really pleased to introduce you to Frances, San Franciscos newest restaurant. The seasonal menu is inspired by local produce from artisinal farms, and dishes out modern Californian cuisine in a relaxed neighbourhood setting. If it is anything like the dining experiences she has created before, we are sure it will be extraordinary.

Our congratulations and best wishes go out to Melissa, and we can't wait to check it out!

Roast Turkey and Seresin Pinot Gris

Huber’s butchery in Singapore is stocking the Seresin Pinot Gris for the holiday season, which according to wine writer Curtis Marsh, is the perfect accompaniment to Christmas turkey.

For more on Curtis's thoughts on wine and food matching and a recipe for for Christmas Roast Turkey visit the Huber's website.

Team Attends Organic Pastoral Field Day

In November several members of the vineyard team attended a Biodynamic field day at Milmore Downs in North Canterbury to learn more about mixed cropping and stock management. They produce BD meat and grains, which they sell as whole grain, kibbled, flakes or flour. The flour makes great bread! The day was really useful, especially the discussion about crop and stock rotation to rejuvenate the soils and to manage parasites. It was great to see how Biodynamic practices had enhanced the property, and that these ideas were being well received by conventional farmers in the area. By Rob Thomson

Seresin is buzzing!

We have recently gained two hives of bees that are enjoying their new base in the orchard. It is fascinating watching them work in the hives, fetch nectar or pollen and fight off the bumblebees after their honey. In addition to the valuable eco-service they provide by pollinating our fruit and vegetables, bees play an important role in Biodynamics. As well as extolling the incredible health benefits of honey, Steiner described how bees were closely linked with the sun and light; bringing energy and life to the land. By Rob Thomson

Celebrating Seresin and NZ Wine

It seems fitting to celebrate the first day of summer (even if we are welcoming it in with plenty of rain!) by reflecting on all the good things we have going for us here in Marlborough. It seems there has been a fair bit of doom and gloom floating around the world of late, and it's a breath of fresh air to have such a positive light shed on things... We recently hosted Curtis Marsh here at Seresin - the New Zealand born Singapore-based writer has over 30 years experience in all things food, wine and travel - and he has written a few glowing words about the NZ wine industry and his visit to Seresin. To see his Wandering Palate blog post, click here.

Thanks Curtis, for making us smile so much on the first day of summer!

A Seresin Dinner Party

Our Swedish Cellarhand, Lars Gabrielsson, came to us from a career as a Sommelier in some of Stockholm's top restaurants. He is also very talented in the kitchen and we often seek his opinion when it comes to matching food and wine. He pictured below sorting Pinot Noir with Ellie, one of our Vintage interns.

Below is one his Spring recipes complete with wine match - perfect for your next dinner party.

Rack of Lamb With fresh herbs and Seresin Lemon Olive Oil

1 whole Rack of Lamb
3 Cloves of Fresh Garlic
½ -1 Teaspoon of good quality salt
A good amount of your favorite garden herbs
1 Tablespoon of Seresin Lemon Olive Oil

Sear off the Rack of Lamb on your Barbecue or in a hot pan just for a few seconds on each side until brown.

Put the Garlic, fresh herbs, salt and Lemon Olive Oil in a Pestle and Mortar and work it in to a paste and taste off with pepper.

Rub the paste into the Rack of Lamb and cook in the oven at 220 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or on the Barbecue until pink in the middle. Let the meat rest for a few minutes before cutting the rack into individual cutlets. Serve with a new potato salad and a bottle of 2008 Seresin Leah Pinot Noir.

Marama a 'Sauvignon Blanc like No Other'

Over the Marlborough Anniversary weekend, we celebrated in style with the Marlborough Wine Weekend. Visitors from around the world attended the event, which showcased the best the region has to offer. As well as a Gourmet Dinner, Garden Party, and a Sparkling Cruise through the Marlborough Sounds, guests had the opportunity to learn more about, and taste a number of the varieties produced in Marlborough. While we tasted through the Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir flights here in Marlborough, TasteLive (a US-based company which organises online tastings in conjunction with real-time tastings) had arranged some wine media to taste the same wines live on twitter. One of these tasters was Grace Hoffman - aka CellarMistress. Grace, a self-professed 'walking encyclopaedia of wine', was rather smitten with the 2007 Seresin Marama - one of only four Marlborough examples appearing in a line-up of international Sauvignons. To see what she has to say about the Marama, and the other Sauvignons tasted, take a look at her blog...

...and if you'd like more information on the Marama, the tasting notes are available on our website.

Seresin - Organic Producer of the Year

Colin Ross attended the Organics Aotearoa New Zealand conference in Hamilton last week and was on hand to accept, on behalf of Seresin, the award for Organic Producer of the Year.

The annual OANZ awards recognise people and organisations leading the way in organics.

The award was presented by Dr Manfred Botsch, Switzerland's Minister of Agriculture, pictured here with Colin.

Colin says the award recognises Seresin's commitment to organic farming.

"We do our best to encourage others to consider organic farming by hosting workshops and field days. We try to be ambassadors for the region and organics through exporting our products and hosting international staff and visitors."

Sauvignons stand the test of time

A common topic of discussion around Malborough, famed for its Sauvignon Blanc, is about the ageability of the beloved variety. Jamie Goode tasted a couple of older vintages of Seresin Sauvignon Blanc, and the verdict was great! Seven years old, the 'very stylish' 2002 Sauvignon earnt 91/100. To see the rest of the blog, click here.