Last week, Miranda Brown, viticulturist at Muddy Water, helped explain just how important the role of vineyard manager is in influencing the final product. In the second and final part of our interview, we delve further into the complexities of Miranda’s profession, and even what she gets up to in her spare time.

7. You have a close working relationship with winemaker Belinda Gould. How would you describe her style and how you manage your wine jigsaw? How do you get your yield, and resulting balance of flavours spot on each year when others fall into the trap of producing too much?

Belinda has a fairly strong personality (as anyone who knows her will know!) and strong opinions about what it takes to make quality wine. She knows the vineyard and winery inside out as she’s been here from day one, so she’s a hot pot of information and ideas. The vineyard planning in terms of our move to organic status, labour, canopy health and disease management is my responsibility. We work together on planning crop targets and over harvest time, but rest of the year we mostly stick to our own knitting!

The simple answer to getting our yield estimates accurate is just by walking the vineyard – a lot! 2008 saw many people surprised about how much fruit they had – thankfully we didn’t fall into that trap. It’s pretty simple to count and weigh a few bunches, it’s no mystery really. The trick is in working with owners who are not driven by volume. Quality is the only test.

8. Harvest for 2010 is now over at Muddy Water? Was it a good one, and what are you spending your time doing now to bring on the growth spurt for next vintage?

I always think its interesting how people rate wines, or a winery. Sometimes a ‘different’ slant in a particular vintage wine can understandably throw people when in reality that’s what the best winemaking is all about. Every year the wine should speak to you differently, reflecting what has happened in a particular season. I love that about wine, moving from vintage to vintage and seeing how they evolve. If you ever taste a vintage that doesn’t quite grab you, re-visit the next vintage of that same wine the following year. You may surprise yourself. Every vintage is so different – and when you live by the handcrafted approach you’ll see a familiar thread, and hopefully some new characters every year.

2009/2010 was a challenging season, we had a really early start to spring but then the summer was cold and we worried that the fruit would not ripen. Fortunately the autumn was amazing; warm, dry and really drawn out so although harvest was later than normal the fruit looked really clean when it was picked. Crop loads were just below average and the 2010 wines are already looking stunning. Winter/Spring is spent pruning, repairing trellis, preparing the vineyard floor by weeding and sowing cover crops. We spur prune, which means we have a permanent cordon (or trunk) that we trim back to each winter. The cordon gives the vines a big carbohydrate reservoir which provides us with lovely even and healthy canopies. It is possible to prune with machines but we prefer to do it by hand so that each vine gets pruned according to its size and health. Pruning is fairly easy to teach but it does take a while to learn to visualise what the vine will look like in summer based on the pruning choices that have been made.

9. Muddy Water now operates to full organic practice. How do you feel about that in your day to day management? Is it showing in how the vines respond and in the berries being harvested?

Gone are the toxic sprays thankfully, and there is certainly more life in the vineyard; ladybirds, bees, praying mantids, hoverflies, native birds. The vines are more resilient, the past season where growth was very slow due to the cold summer – our canopies were still full and green and had reached the top of the post when other neighbouring vineyards still had canopies that were yet to reach the second wire. Belinda has less issues in the winery with stuck/stinky ferments, presumably as the fruit has a good population of strong vineyard yeast. We use native yeasts in our wines – none of the added stuff.

10. Of all the varieties and different styles you make e.g. you have 4 distinct Riesling styles, do you have a favourite child in the pack? What’s your favourite tipple?

No favourite child! I do find it hard to separate the wine from what it took to grow it – so if it was a challenging season and the fruit didn’t look quite as good as I expect it to then I find it hard to love the wine as much as one that was from a great season. The consumer probably won’t notice the difference as Belinda will have done her magic in the winery but I still remember! I am quite varied in what I like to drink – but Riesling would probably have to be my favourite – simply because it is such an obedient child in the vineyard (unlike Pinot Noir!) and it’s so versatile in terms of the styles it produces. We’re particularly lucky to have the spread of styles at Muddy Water from bone dry right the way through to a fully botrytised dessert wine.

11. If you had a 1 yr sabbatical to manage a vineyard somewhere else in world where would it be and why?

Tough question – there are so many choices, any place you work at you learn new ideas. I would probably say California as I am quite fond of Zinfandel and you don’t see much of that in NZ!

12. What do you like least about the wine industry?
That vineyard mangers and workers don’t get as much recognition as they deserve. When I tell people what I do for a job, non-industry people (and sometimes even people in the wine industry) often ask me do I want to be a winemaker one day!! I think its slowly changing but there is still a way to go.

13. What do you do in your spare time? What are your other great loves?
I love to travel as much as my bank balance will let me, there are a lot of places on my “to do before I die” list, going to see more live music , snowboarding (combined with overseas travel if possible) and I have recently taken up roller derby! I also love to garden – but it’s a bit of a battle between my husband and I over vege garden vs cricket pitch in the back lawn.

Sincere thanks to Miranda Brown for her time putting into these truly insightful answers to our curious questions!

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.

For many people the whole organic thing, whether it’s certified or not, is a bit of a fad. But there are still plenty who live by it. Muddy Water can now be added to that list from the beginning of this month, with their 2011 Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir set to be their first wines that will have official organic certification.

So what’s the big whoop? Muddy Water have been producing their wines using organic principles since 2007.

“We could have simply gone down the path of marketing our wine as being produced using ‘organic principles’. But we knew we were already adopting many sustainable practices and with some changes to the way we did things could achieve full certification,”

Jane East, co-owner.

Muddy Water have chosen AsureQuality, an organic certifier known for its strict adherence to international standards, although the question remains does all this effort lead to better wines? Owners and husband and wife team, Jane and Mike East, obviously believe it does otherwise they wouldn’t be doing it. Muddy Water’s vineyard manager believes she has become a better viticulturist because of it.

“Going through this process has definitely made me a better viticulturist, as I need to spend more time managing the vines, anticipating potential issues and proactively taking steps to deal to issues early.”

Miranda Brown, Viticulturist.

Instead of using herbicides, weeds are controlled by cultivating under the vine. Flowers such as buckwheat and phacelia are planted to divert insects away from the vines and sulphur, seaweed, compost teas and biological fungicides were introduced to control disease. In the winery, the only addition is wild yeast to assist fermentation and there is minimal filtering, although they have been doing this for years before anyway.

Needless to say, Jane East is well aware of the marketing opportunities available by going certified organic. Muddy Water is now proudly part of New Zealand’s squeaky clean ‘green’ image. And why not? Good for them.

We’ve fought tooth and nail over this grape variety before. Whether it’s your cup of tea or not, Riesling comes in many different guises depending on where in the world it is grown.

The Germans are perhaps regarded as the original and best by critics, producing serious wine drinkers wines that get even more serious with age. Alsace provides another Old World haven, with chalky-clay soils and a slightly different winemaking approach, many of the wines tend to be drier and weightier on the palate with higher alcohol. Oh, and let’s not forget Austria. The home of the supreme Grüner Veltliner. Again, well rounded, drier and higher in alcohol.

In the New World, there are the citrus fruit bombs of Australia. Crisp and steely with a lean acidic backbone, head to Clare and Eden Valley for some of the best examples. Then there is New Zealand, and specifically Waipara, north of Christchurch, which might just take the crown for Riesling capital of the New World. It’s cool enough to retain vibrant acidity yet warm enough to ripen the grapes fully so they display wide ranging aromas and flavours from lemon and lime to mandarin, and on occasion stone fruit and honey notes from botrytis influence. Those elusive chalky mineral characters make for a great finale.

What’s my Riesling capital of the world? I’ve had some great experiences with Riesling from all over the world. It was probably a dry Austrian Riesling, the Wohlmuth, which initiated my interest. Since then I’ve enjoyed a number of very memorable wines from Germany, France and Australia, but for me at this time, it would be hard to beat Muddy Water’s James Hardwick Riesling – and yes, it’s from Waipara. Gotta love it.

So what’s your Riesling capital of the world?

The above picture is of Riesling grapes harvested in the Czech Republic…. Oops, forgot that country.

With the fair weather set to continue, we’re crossing our fingers for an Indian summer to counter the back-to-school blues and prolong the holiday hoopla. Don’t pack that picnic basket away in the loft just yet, as we’ve a super snazzy, ultra-handy picnic wine chiller to give away in September’s prize draw.

Complete with insulated twin-bottle storage, glasses, napkins, corkscrew, stopper and side-pockets galore, this is one for that boozy summer lunch on the beach or in the local park. And to help you on your way, we’ve two bottles from one of New Zealand’s coolest wineries to fill it – a silky, dreamy Sauvignon Blanc and the brand new, decadently scrumptious Deliverance red from Muddy Water. (The banjo’s optional.)

How to Enter: All you have to do to get in the draw is ‘friend us up’ on our Facebook page. We’ll draw one lucky winner at random in September from all our fans and post it here and on Facebook.

Last month, we had a hand-crafted New Zealand theme, with a beautiful Rimu cheese board and two bottles from Nelson’s Greenhough estate up for grabs. Congratulations to Joe Burke, drawn at random from our Facebook friends this morning, to win our August contest. Rimu board (it really *is* beautiful!) and two bottles on their way to you Joe.

There is perhaps no other nation in the world flying the ‘green’ flag as high and as passionately as New Zealand. Of the many environmental pioneers this country has produced, it is a professor and a scientist, both based in Christchurch, who have been leading the pack for environmental sustainability. Their project is called ‘Greening Waipara’, and it is gathering momentum at an encouraging rate.

The Waipara wine-growing area of North Canterbury is a place of extraordinary significance. Like much of eastern Canterbury, it was originally draped in tall totara, matai, lacebark, kowhai, lancewood and broadleaf forest. It has been dramatically transformed, first by the hunting and gathering by the indigenous Maori, then modification for grazing sheep and mixed farming, and then to forestry or horticulture – including the viticulture industry.

The two ecological specialists leading the ‘Greening Waipara’ project, Prof. Steve Wratton and Dr. Colin Meurk, are using research-driven techniques to help bring back a greener Waipara, and the wine industry is heavily involved. Among the objectives, there is focus on reducing the reliance on herbicides and pesticides, in addition to the creation of wetlands with native species to filter contaminated storm water and vineyard effluent – all done via the restoration of a natural habitat using species which were once common.

These practices enhance the natural character and resilience of the district. Shelter belts, entrance-ways, stream and pond edges, vineyard borders and even the vine rows themselves are all receiving an ecological ‘make over’. A number of New Zealand native species are showing real promise as a potential companion to grapes.

‘Greening Waipara’ is heavily reliant on those landowners who participate, but the uptake has been extremely positive and the research being collected will serve to help similar projects in the future. Thankfully, almost everyone in the region is on the same page. One of the wineries involved is Muddy Water, who are kindly using the profits of Deliverance to help fund the initiative.

No, it’s not Marmite, it’s Riesling, and a medium dry/sweet one at that. Throw off your fears and inhibitions and crack the cap on this with a mild Thai curry – I guarantee it’ll open up a whole new world of flavour combinations you didn’t know existed. Video one this week is the magical James Hardwick Riesling 2008 from Muddy Water.

We’ve also posted a crisp, fruity Chardonnay and three light reds, for perfect summer supping.

Video two: Pascal Bouchard Cotes d’Auxerre Chardonnay 2008

The “generic-brand” Burgundy Chardonnay from top Chablis producer Pascal Bouchard. They can even put “Chardonnay” on the label!

Video three: Domaine Fort Michon Brouilly 2007

The perfect summer red, there’s so much more to Beaujolais than Fleurie. Nine other grand cru villages in fact, and Brouilly’s the largest.

Video four: V Pinot Noir 2007

From the land of Count Dracula, check out this Transylvanian Pinot Noir. (Yes, Transylvania!) Not a typical Pinot Noir, but then we pride ourselves on being anything but typical.

Video five: Domaine du Chateau d’Eau Pinot Noir 2008

A real favourite in the warehouse for the lunar organic approach to growing, coupled with the resulting fine structure and bursting, juicy red fruit.

It’s first time Muddy Water have produced a true dessert wine. The closest before this was the highly acclaimed James Hardwick, which is a beautifully balanced medium Riesling.

The Sugar Daddy Riesling is huge wine from the Estate vineyard, which is part of the Organic program. In 2008 they only made the Dry and Sugar Daddy Rieslings from this vineyard (different vineyard blocks are at different stages of this organic process).

Some autumn rains showed themselves in particular blocks in the Riesling vineyard and that created the right conditions. It’s very concentrated at 50 Brix – the highest they’ve ever had by nearly 20 Brix – that’s 50% sugar, which may never happen again!

It’s always a trade-off producing a sticky. They’re expensive, with minuscule juice extracted from the shrivelly grapes, but winemaker and viticulturist Belinda Gould and Miranda Brown knew it would be a special vintage. The winery has not put it out for export anywhere else up to now. It’s selling like hotcakes at cellar door as something unique so they’ve no need to push it into export markets. Just as well a few arms have been twisted. Afterall, this is something that will enhance the already brilliant brand internationally.

Only 100 cases were produced. They’re not making one in this year’s 09 vintage and who knows in 2010. So for now, when I say rare, it’s not marketing puffery!

Quite simply a divine wine – you won’t find one as rare as this from New Zealand in Ireland. Brightly golden with decadently sweet flavours and a thick, viscous, honeyed texture. Full of intense raisins, plumped up dried apricots, luscious sweetness masterly crafted with beautifully fresh acidity and verve. It’s a fully botrytised wine, carrying just 7% alcohol and a whopping 300gm/L which puts it in a very rare bracket (the average dessert wine sits around 150gm/L).

It’s the first fully botrytised dessert wine that Muddy Water has made, which will only happen in certain years. It spent 9 months in the finest French oak where the fermentation was stopped when the desired sugars were reached. Powerful, delicious and with a finish that lasts forever.

Right now there are only 5 cases of it Ireland. If you want a memorable treat, look no further.