The best winemakers the world over will tell you that wine is made in the vineyard. Muddy Water in Waipara is no different. They unreservedly believe their limestone rich soils and, some would say, fanatical vine nurturing hold the key to their stonkingly delicious drops. Their secret armour is Miranda Brown, vineyard manager, who lovingly looks after every vine like it was her own prized child. In our winemaker series we hear from Miranda on what it takes to manage an extra special vineyard.

1. You’ve worked with some heavyweight vineyards. What attracted you to Waipara region and Muddy Water?

I was born and bred here so after working in other regions around New Zealand and vintages overseas it seemed natural to come back, and Waipara was increasingly on the radar map for its Pinot and Riesling varieties. Waipara is very special because of its size, made up mostly of small family owned producers who put quality above everything else. That’s a fundamentally different start point in a vineyard. Waipara region also has the perfect climate and soil for my two favourite varieties to grow and drink – Riesling and Pinot Noir. Muddy Water in particular is one of the top producers in Waipara, a tiny close knit team led by Jane and Mike East, so it’s been a dream opportunity to work here. You can drill down to the most important detail when you’re in that small production, artisan, family-run environment.

2. How do you see the vineyard soil, aspect and plantings? Do they give you an edge in specific varieties?

New Zealand is a long skinny country and in Waipara, and particularly our site, we are quite sheltered in aspect. The Teviotdale hills to the east protect us from the cool easterly, and shelter belts to the west protect us from the worst of the westerly winds so we are warmer and have a longer season than some other vineyards in the valley, and some other regions. This gives us that all important added ‘hang time’ – more time for the vines to ripen evenly – sometimes an added 10 days on other regions in certain vintages. This gentler ripening time keeps the wines nicely balanced – none of those out of the box characters that can jump out when a vine gets less even ripening time. The vineyard is slightly elevated above the valley floor and has gentle slopes which form a protective shell behind the vines and some deeply laden limestone-rich soils. This gives all our wines a distinctive mineral edge. You may also have noticed they’re not rocket fuel potions in the glass – limestone subdues the aromatics a little but builds a nice structure, more layers of flavour in the final wine. We think the latter just as important!

3. Talk us through your crop yield approach vs how it’s done by the bigger commercial guns – is there a clear difference in fruit concentration and finish?

A very topical question right now! I manage crop load in the vineyard from pruning when we decide how many buds to lay down, then through shoot thinning when we open up the canopy by removing both fruitful and non fruitful shoots, and then also in certain seasons we fruit thin (that can mean dropping up to 50% fruit if we feel it will deliver a more concentrated and better balanced wine). This may be either just removing green fruit or ‘shoulders’ or whole bunches. We like all our shoots and bunches to have their own space within the vine to improve air movement and sunlight penetration – their own little piece of real estate to savour! We generally crop our Pinot Noir and Chardonnay at about 5 tonnes to the hectare and Riesling at 8t/ha. This is very low compared with bigger producers. It’s a costly approach, less juice, but we believe much more interesting fruit that makes you sit up and take notice. For the Pinot Noir this generally means we have about 10 bunches (1kg) per vine on our close planted hill blocks – this is the equivalent of one bottle of wine off each vine.  This does change depending on the season – grape growing can be fickle and you never really know how much fruit you will get until it’s all harvested as so much is dependant on the weather conditions even right up until harvest. I’ve spent 4 years working in the large vineyards here and although they do watch crop load, they are chasing a different end goal. Their wines are targeted toward a different result – for them, more is more whereas for us, less is more. It’s a fundamentally different way of nurturing the vines to produce their best – and ultimately a wine that’s true to that vintage itself.

4. What’s your favourite stage of the vineyard year / what’s the trickiest part?

Sometimes I sit high on the golden hued Teviotdale hills nestling behind the vineyard and marvel at the beautiful patch of land that’s my territory. The vineyard is constantly changing through the whole season which is why I love it so much. Budburst is lovely – seeing the green leaf tips push out of the vines after being dormant for 4 months is wonderful. Equally great is seeing a full healthy green canopy on a late summer afternoon, or vines just before harvest in autumn. The trickiest part is anticipating what problems might emerge in a season. Although you learn from past years, every season has a different challenge that requires new thinking. I have yet to experience a perfect season where everything goes to plan – but that’s what makes it so interesting.

5. People talk about vine age and its importance in wine consistency? Have you seen changes over the years in how the vines cope with the weather thrown at them?

Young vines always produce great fruit – they’re naturally lower yielding but do struggle a bit in the tougher seasons. Whereas the older vines have “been there and done that” and certainly seem to have more resilience even in cooler or wetter seasons. The canopies are fuller and healthier and tend to be slower ripening so we can leave the fruit out longer to reach full physiological ripeness rather than just sugar ripeness.

6. At harvest time, what’s first and foremost on your mind? How do you ensure it’s the smoothest harvest?

Making sure all vineyard work has been done at the right time over summer is the key. It’s quite a meticulous process – all those little steps shape everything for us. We generally put our nets on (to protect the berries from eager birds chasing fruit) early February so the last month before harvest should be fine tuning the vines and keeping an eye on the weather. It’s generally too late by then to have much of an influence on the quality if the work hasn’t been done previously. Belinda and I talk constantly so that we’re on the same page on when we expect blocks to be harvested. It’s a tightly planned and having good staff in the picking crew is essential. We hand pick and rely on them to harvest the fruit to very exacting standards so although most of them are casual staff here for a short period we try to keep them well looked after. They get the best coffee and treats in the region – no stone left unturned to ensure the grapes get that gentle handling we require!

Next week, Miranda talks Riesling, organic practices and what she least likes about the wine industry! Click here to view the range from Muddy Water.