September 2006 Newsletter

Dear Subscribers

MUDDY NOTES SEPTEMBER 2006 

The cycle of the seasons never seems more obvious to me than when I am sitting at my desk overlooking the vineyard. Spring has arrived at Muddy Water. Bud burst has begun and soft green leaves are growing daily, the new grass needs constant mowing and the young leaves on the willows and poplars grow at an impressive rate each day. As I sip a glass of aged wine I wonder how life could be any better....

Harvest this year was highly organised by our wonderful new manager, Miranda, great weather and a great team of people both in the vineyard and to assist Belinda in the winery. Both Miranda and Belinda have written some notes below.

We have recently bottled some wines from the 2006 vintage, Rose ,Sauvignon Blanc and the James Hardwick Riesling. Jane showed these last week at the Eurowine roadshow and was delighted with the response. The Unplugged Riesling was not ready for bottling at the time but will be bottled late November.

Miranda Brown. Vineyard Manager.

We had a mixed start to the season with an earlier than normal bud burst, followed by some early spring frosts. However bud burst was early enough so that the vines had time to recover and by Christmas there was little noticeable differance in the vine growth from previous years.
Some hard work put in by the vineyard team shoot thinning, wire lifting and leaf plucking ensured excellent quality fruit across all our blocks. The crop loads were down a little, but this resulted in riper and more concentrated fruit. The long, warm and dry autumn capped off the season with perfect conditions for developing flavour and colour compounds in the fruit and for keeping disease pressure low.
All our fruit is hand picked and we had on average around 15 people each day helping us in the vineyard. We started harvesting on 31st of March in our hillside Pinot Noir. The rain held off while harvest continued on through until April 27th with our Riesling for the Unplugged and the Syrah being the last two varieties to come in. We are all looking forward to tasting the wines that come out of the 2006 vintage as it promises to be one of the best in recent years.

Belinda Gould - The winery comment!!!

Another harvest is tucked away and I'm busy getting the Riesling's (and this year a Sauvignon Blanc) ready for bottling. Well I say I'm busy - other's can't believe my new lifestyle as Jane and Mike have let me off admin work and I'm enjoying having one or two free days a week to hike and ride my bike. 2006 was the most enjoyable harvest ever. We had a great crew, it was nice to have harvest help again after 2005 when we had such poor yields that I was solo in the winery. The things that make harvest fun are - in order of importance.

1st = Good grapes - 2006 was a year where the yields were less than the bean counter likes but great for us.

2nd = Good team - Jen, Kevin and Alex were just fantastic. As were our Lincoln student helpers, Andy and Alexis.

3rd = Good food and plenty of it. Until you've worked a harvest you just don't realize how much food you need - Kevin remarked at one point that he was eating more than he'd ever eaten and he was still hungry. We became masters of the toasty machine ( the combinations shouldn't be repeated) and Susie MacKenzie arrived with delicious and nutritious evening meals. Thank you, Jane and Mike for making it all possible.

4th = Good beer. Nothing produced by Lion or DB passed our lips - it takes a lot of good beer to make good wine.

Good coffee ...... The list goes on but you get the picture - we don't have lives for two months but its exciting and fun and we love it - no matter how often we do it.

Speaking of which ..... I'm very fortunate that Jane and Mike are sending me off to France to work a harvest so my next news will be from a small biodynamic vineyard in Gaillac in the southwest of France.

A Bientot

The Wines.

Riesling is taken very seriously at Muddy Water, our crop levels are kept very low, around 3kg/vine or 6T/ha. The season dictates whether we produce wines for all three Riesling labels or not. Clean fruit without botrytis is picked for the Dry and James Hardwick labels, any clusters with botrytis are left in the vineyard to ripen further for our "late harvest' - Riesling Unplugged. The Dry Riesling is aged for a year after bottling before release.

Muddy Water James Hardwick Riesling 2006

Low crop levels and selective harvesting ensure that only clean ripe fruit is carefully pressed then tank fermented by native yeasts. We stopped the fermentation at 18g/L residual sugar to give a wine that is concentrated and balanced but with good complexity. Our James Hardwick Riesling's get better and better with age and this one will be no exception.

Muddy Water Sauvignon Blanc 2006

This Sauvignon Blanc is made from 73% Awatere Valley fruit and 27% Nelson fruit. It shows some of the fresh characters of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc rounded with the tropical fruit character from the Nelson grapes and added complexity from partial barrel fermentation with native yeasts.

Keith Stewart, Somnet.com  September 2006." mouthfilling flavour is fresh and pure, part herb part fruit with a fresh cast. Mid palate has lovely fruit density and a good spread of flavour across the palate with some hints of citrus at the end. Finishes well, not quite long enough to be elegant, but certainly classy."

Muddy Water Chardonnay 2004

Our aim is to produce a subtle, complex Chardonnay that enhances your meal and reflects our vineyard. Our site gives us intense minerally fruit characters and our low tech handling gives the wine complexity which we enhance with judicious use of new oak barrels - only 10%. This Chardonnay is a clear bright golden yellow, citrus aromas with a touch of apple on the nose and some rich stone fruit, intense, complex, textured wine with a long finish. River stone minerals. A wine that is still in it;s youth but ewill continye to develop complexity for many years. Perfect for food.

Cameron's Cellar Door. Hospitality July 2006. " Clear, bright and golden yellow. Citrus aromas with a touch of grapefruit and crisp apple underpin a mineral base reminiscent of wet pebbles. The palate has rich stone fruit notes, this wine will age well for another three plus years."

Muddy Water Rose 2006

Our 2006 Rose is 85% Central Otago Pinot Noir from a young vineyard. Crushed, pressed and tank fermented it is fresh and fruity. We have also included a carbonic maceration component and some Waipara Pinot Noir and Pinotage juice for a little complexity. Perfect summer evening drinking.

Keith Stewart. Somnet.com August 2006. "Light bright pink. Impact is full of fresh strawberry/cherry flavours, soft and pure, with a juicy note. Mid palate is softly flavoursome with plenty of lovely fruit characters"

Muddy Water Pinot Noir 2004

The 2003 to 2004 growing season in Waipara valley gave us a warm dry spring and early summer resulting in an excellent fruit set. Our vineyard staff spent many hours ensuring these vines were in perfect balance. Carefully selected ripe fruit was hand harvested in nineteen different lots and fermented using indigenous yeasts. Aged in 30% new French oak. This Pinot Noir is a dense stylish wine with a silken texture running through, some black cherries and red fruit on the nose beautifully integrated with classy spicy oak.

Gormet Traveller Wine July 2006. " This is a dense stylish Pinot Noir with a lovely silken texture. Seductively sweet fruit flavours are beautifully integrated into classy spicy oak. It's an understated style that is currently showing plenty of promise.'

Muddy Water Mojo Pinot Noir 2004

This wine comes from two separate lots of Pinot Noir, which alwasys tasted different throughout it's time in the winery. Coincidentally the fruit comes from the same part of the vineyard as the first Mojo we produced in 2000. Low fruit yields and intensive vineyard work was followed by fermentation using native yeasts, aging for fifteen months in French oak, undergoing full malolactic in the barrel. Unfiltered. Generous black cherry and berry flavours on the nose along with some earthy truffle characters have given this wine a deep velvet palate. It's special so we named it "Mojo".

Simon Cunliffe. The Press. May 2006. " this is a reserve equivalent wine fashioned from parcels of superior grapes that have yielded a wine of special character. Has a lovely inviting nose, is light on its feet but full of fruity cherry and berry flavours with enough French oak and redidual acid to give it the sort of deportment one expects fromn a superior burgundian style wine."

Muddy Water Price List

	$ Per Bottle	No. of Bottles	Total
2006 Rose	18.00
2006 Sauvignon Blanc	20.00
2006 James Hardwick Riesling	26.00
2004 Chardonnay	28.00
2004 Pinot Noir	40.00
2004 Pinotage	28.00
2004 Mojo Pinot Noir	65.00
2004 Syrah	22.00
TOTAL (10% Discount for 12 Bottles)

Freight: $8 South Island

$12 North Island

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