It was a sincere pleasure to complete our 31st harvest earlier in the year. If one was to consider “a generation” in wine it amounts to about the same time. Children grow older, and generally in these situations, while living just across the courtyard from the vineyards and winery, they grow up within the frenzied activity and pleasures which is the season in the life of a winegrowers reward. It is like completing the circle, whether it is life or the rhythms of Mother Nature.
One can understand that being a member of the Family of Twelve the benchmarking standards set are extreme. Each year we have a convention which is called ‘the VitiVini day’ where we all make a visit to ones region and together discuss topics of interest, taste a collection of each other’s wines and eat and talk far too much. There is always a selection of old world classics poured as well, just to keep the form. It’s fun!
Since Annie and I started The Millton Vineyard in 1983 we have been committed to the production of the finest wine we can create from each season. In our circle of life here, in Gisborne on the east coast of the North Island, we are custodians of thirty hectares of vineyards, in four different locations within the valley, with four completely different terroirs giving a range of wines each with a degree of variation, within the bounds of the cellar style. Out of respect for Mother Nature and to leave the land in an improved state for future generations, we don’t use herbicide; instead we cultivate and grow flowers and other leys. These flowers in turn bring about a nectar source for beneficial insects and our own bees, living in their unique “top-bar” hives. Custodians as well, they control the insect realm so there is no need to use any insecticides or other poisons. Continuing around the circle we do not use any soluble fertiliser as these artificial substances have little or no regard for the health of the plant and the life down within the soils. “You may think you’re walking on dirt but you are really standing on the rooftop of another kingdom” is our mantra. With a plentiful supply of nutrients from composted material derived from the gardens, vineyards and winery the health of the plants means we don’t need to use systemic fungicides either so the grapes, leaves and grasses stay warm and receptive to the suns best wishes. As a result of all of this, with the best intentions, we avoid the use of cultured yeast and bacteria’s as they come from foreign lands or laboratories, not ‘our place’. Our wines are bottled and packaged on the property by the very same people who prune the vines so, with the secateurs, they have a franchise in the bottle. We think of these people as family as they do us. In the West it is called Bio Dynamic revealing a “life energy” In the East it is called Ying Yang.
As a way of appreciation we recently had the pleasure of a visiting master sommelier from the three star Michelin restaurant Rouge Tomate, in New York City. Pascaline Lepeltier MS walked, talked, tasted, drank and ate and commented on what she saw as a circle of life. She mentioned the unique texture, subtle complexity and luminosity each of our wines presented. Left me convinced that before a wine can be great it must first be true.
