Hello again!

I'm back and ready to fill you in on the events of the last couple of weeks. I can't believe how time has flown since we arrived here on 3rd April, yet at the same time it seems so long ago that we were at Beehive Gardens, and Auckland seems years away. It's funny how travelling and a total break from routine completely disrupts your concept of time and date - most of the time I have little idea of the date and no idea what day it is. (But I do know where we are, which is a good start!)

Ash Ridge Vineyards is a boutique vineyard on the Ngatarawa Road on the outskirts of Hastings, in the heart of the Hawke's Bay wine growing area, and it feels as though we are in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by vineyards and mountains (as you can see from the photos). It is owned and run by Jon & Emma Peet, a British couple who emigrated here c.6 years ago and who live happily amongst the vines with mad dog Hooky (an English Pointer who is utterly adorable, completely stupid and very much in danger of shortly being stolen by a couple of British backpackers!) and 2 cats, Symi and Coxwell. The patter of tiny feet (no, not more mice!) are also on the way with Emma shortly expecting their first child, and she is currently doing her best impression of Superwoman by holding down a full-time job, then coming back to work here, all while 7 months pregnant! And it is for this very reason that our working arrangement has been so successful as Em simply couldn't do everything she usually does at this time of year. Not bad for a chance meeting in a bank in Napier! And bizarrely the weird quirks of fate don't end there. On our first day we quickly established that Jon and Emma were huge fans of Symi in Greece (our neighbouring island from Tilos), which they visited several years in a row and remember our good friend Frances, and even own her cookery and walking books (and Frances remembers them too!) And, Jon's mum was born just down the road from Hunstanton, where our parents now live, and where we've just spent the last 18 months! Small world!

Ash Ridge Vineyards grow a few different varieties of grapes, mainly Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc, which is mostly grown under contract for Delegats who use it to make Oyster Bay wines. They also grow Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, which is blended with the Merlot for their own label Ash Ridge Cabernet Merlot. They also make an Ash Ridge Sauvignon Blanc, and then any leftover grapes are made into 'Quaffer' onsite for personal consumption (though nicer than most supermarket wines we're used to!) We arrived shortly before vintage, which is an incredibly tense period of judging the optimum time to harvest - a very fine line between leaving the grapes out as long as possible to reach their optimum brix (sugar level), but keeping a close eye on the weather forecast to get them in before any rain! During this time we spent our days leaf plucking the Merlot vines to allow the sun to ripen the grapes, taking off grapes that had been pecked by birds, securing the nets on the Cabernets, which are harvested later, and pulling up the weeds from under the vines to allow a clear path for the harvester. Another job which proved an endless source of amusement for Su and I was bird scaring, i.e. riding around the vineyard on a quad bike blasting a hooter at intermittent intervals. I can't begin to tell you how much fun that was, dampened only slightly by riding into a wasp which stung me through my clothes!

Our work on the vineyard, and time here, has been enhanced no end by Hooky who is a fantastic dog, and it is going to be very difficult to fully describe him (a dog psychologist would have a field day!) without this blog turning into the first episode of the 'Hooky Fan Club'! He had my number from day 1: the first night we arrived Jon & Emma went to an antenatal class and he wouldn't stop barking outside so I left my lovely hot dinner and went to the door where he appeared, shaking, so I assumed he was cold and lonely and sat giving him a cuddle while my dinner went cold - sucker! He shakes and moans with utter delight whenever anybody makes a fuss of him (I think perhaps he is trying to imitate the cats purring?) He has the most expressive face I've ever seen on an animal and he talks constantly, knows he is not allowed inside but if you sit by the patio door he will gradually sidle in and sit on your lap like a cat, and he hates water, disappearing faster than you can imagine when the hosepipe is turned on! He is extremely amusing in the vineyard as he has a fascination with the irrigation pipes under the vines and if you hit them (by accident of course) he will chase the resultant movement to the end of the row, which was fun when we were pulling up the weeds! In fact, he eventually has to be tied up as he wears his paws down by running so much that he gets sore feet and starts to limp (he doesn't understand the reasoning of course, thinks he has done something wrong, and puts on the most heartbreakingly doleful face). He also has an incredibly touching relationship with one of the cats, Coxwell, who sleeps with him in his kennel and will kill a rabbit, eat the head and deliver the remains to Hooky in his kennel or on the vineyard as a present! Hmm, the stories are endless....

The other wonderful thing about being here, as you can well imagine, is the amount of delicious wine we've been forced to try and the amount that we've learnt about viticulture and winemaking. Every night we have sat down to a delicious home-cooked meal, accompanied by a variety of different wines from their homemade Quaffer, to Ash Ridge label wines, to other premium wines from Hawke's Bay growers. Sometimes I've been forced to have more than one glass of wine on the go at once so that I can taste the difference between wines that have been fermented in French and American oak, different varieties of grapes, different blends, and the effects of age - it's a hard life! I've also learnt an incredible amount about the very scientific processes involved and the effect that the viticulturist and winemaker has on the final product. Early in our stay here we took some grapes to be tested at the winery to help determine the date of harvest. Dan Barker at Moana Park winery makes the Ash Ridge wines and is a magician! Once there he took time from his busy schedule to let us test the 2008 Ash Ridge Sauvignon Blanc, still early in the fermentation process, but already full of the flavours I adore, and the 2007 Ash Ridge Cabernet Merlot, a lovely rich deep flavour and not due to be bottled until November 2009. Dan then gave us his full attention for a tasting session of Moana Park's award winning wines, from Viognier and Chardonnay, to Merlot and Syrah, then his special dessert wine and finally a 10 year old Tawny Port. I think it's fair to say that we left with a smile on our faces. And no, we didn't spit it ALL out!

The date for harvest was eventually set for 13 April, and we just managed to fit it all in before the rain hit! It was looking dodgy on the morning of harvest, but we were very lucky, and the impending rain just added a lovely moody atmosphere to the day. Like most vineyards, the main harvest is done by machine, a huge harvester which straddles the row with beaters inside that beat against the vines, causing the grapes to fall off their stalks which are caught by the harvester, tipped into a nearby gondola every few rows, then tipped into a waiting lorry for delivery to the winery. I was given the role of official photographer for the day, which was fun, and the whole thing was quite an experience. This part of the harvest was over by lunchtime, and proved very successful for Jon and Emma. Then after a quick bite to eat it was back to the vineyard to handpick the Merlot and Malbec that had been left for their own label wine, helped by Hooky who had spent the morning tied up so that he didn't run under the wheels of the harvester (he has a thing about running alongside and under the wheels of moving vehicles). We then delivered these grapes to Moana Park, where there was just time to check how the Sauvignon Blanc was progressing! The following day it was back to the vineyard to pick the grapes left from around the posts, as the harvester has a tendency to leave some behind, for their homemade wine. We just had time to finish this and begin the crushing, when the rain hit and we hurriedly moved inside to finish crushing the grapes, and then help tidy up - lots of cleaning involved in winemaking!

For the last couple of days Em has been back at work while Jon, Su and I have been moping around the house, while it has been chucking it down with rain outside - New Zealand has just had a spell of bad weather. Su and I have been feeling a little drained after the excitement of harvest, so I can't begin to imagine the range of emotions that Jon and Emma must feel afterwards. But it isn't all doom and gloom - I've had great fun with the next stage of winemaking, fermentation, Su spent an entire day baking a variety of cookies, and we all had a wonderful massage yesterday morning from students at a college where Em works and Jon lectures part-time. Now, we're doing some planning for days out in Hawke's Bay (when it stops raining) and for our next move - we're heading to the Bay of Plenty once we've picked the Cabernets here, hopefully for kiwi work. We are very pleased that Jon and Emma have asked us back at the end of July for 4-6 weeks pruning work, which we've agreed to happily!

Anyway, I suspect that I've gone on a bit, so will shut up now! If you'd like to read some more about Ash Ridge, check out: www.ashridgevineyards.co.nz

Lots of love, Jo, Su, and Hooky too! xxxxxxxxxxxx