Cyclone Gabrielle Relief Funds
The effects of Cyclone Gabrielle have left many in North Island wine communities at a loss, with the destruction and devastation of homes, vineyards and wineries.
A winegrowing portfolio that covers not only the tried and true varieties but expands into a number of new varietals which are starting to turn heads both nationally and internationally.
The region’s commitment to trialling varieties well suited to our dry farming maritime climate continues through the Gisborne Winegrowers research committee. Collecting valuable data at a vineyard level and producing small quantities of each trial variety ensures an accurate assessment of where each may sit from a commercial and boutique perspective.
Through the NZWinegrower’s trade and media programme Gisborne has been fortunate to host a number of wine writers, sommeliers and even the American consul-general. The wines and the region were well received. It is always interesting to receive feedback from our international guests and although many of the wines were noted to be world-class there was a challenge to local wine producers to bring X factor wines to the table. Perhaps through innovative and challenging wine making technique’s this can be achieved. Aside to tasting our diverse range of wines some were treated to fresh wild blackberries and Fejoas, memories worth savouring!!
Gisborne’s Wine Centre continues to evolve and is now attracting national brands with locally produced fruit to the shelves. The Centre provides a collective selection for the purposes of promotion/marketing and retail sales. A local cellar door for those that don’t have one, but also an extension to provide customers with a link to those that do. We see this as an important part of the region’s initiatives going forward and there has been a lot of resource channelled into the Wine Centre ensuring its viability and sustainability.
The 2015 Gisborne Regional Wine Awards was heralded once again as a great success. A meet the judges forum along with cellar door wine tastings and degustation lunches were new for 2015. They provided local industry with the opportunity to interact with the judges in a relaxed environment. Host wineries provided an array of experiences including local cultural performances and food matched with local wines. The event culminated in an awards dinner attended by local industry and businesses. Celebrity Chef Martin Bosely did a fantastic job of matching the awarding winning wines to the menu and MC Paul Ego was at his witty best entertaining close to 100 attendees.
GWG’s is now focusing on the Chardonnay and Sparkling Symposium in February which Gisborne won the right to host over other regions. It is a fantastic opportunity for us to host such an event and I believe this is a platform we as a winegrowing region need to build on to reinforce our unofficial status as Chardonnay Capital of the World. The international audience will be exposed to a selection of New Zealand’s top class Chardonnay and Sparkling wines.
With another successful vintage behind us we can now look forward to vintage 2016 and what challenges that may bring. Growers have a wealth of resources at their fingertips and I encourage all to use these resources to guide you through the season to produce high quality crops. Mother Nature will always play a part, interrupting the plan or creating high disease pressure periods. Interacting with other growers is an important part of benchmarking your practice against others. Right or wrong we all face different issues together.
