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.

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.

Mention the name Cloudy Bay and you’re in the company of Bugati, Mont Blanc, Gucci and all such prized possessions around the world. It’s been the trailblazer for New Zealand and can claim buckets of credit for putting this tiny winemaking nation on the map. For many, Cloudy Bay is the first word in top class Sauvignon Blanc.

Well we’re about to risk our reputation and throw down the gauntlet. Because, in case you didn’t know it, there have been big changes at Cloudy Bay over the years. The much-reputed winemaker and viticulturist who both spent decades at the winery have moved on to new paths and, quite frankly, we think it’s showing.

Cloudy Bay is a highly oiled, international brand today; and good on those Kiwis for getting it to the world stage. Of course, such is the kudos of, and insatiable appetite for this brand, that more and more Sauvignon Blanc is being produced. However, price is a major barrier. It is, as the French would say, astronomique. I mean €30 for a bottle of Sauvi – can that be all that savvy?

Perhaps it’s an ownership thing – it is today owned by the giant French multinational luxury goods firm LMVH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy), so perhaps there’s a luxurious profit required too?

One of the previous masters from Cloudy Bay is now quietly crafting his skills in another sublime Sauvignon Blanc on our shelves. That chap is Frank Manifold, an unassuming genius of Sauvignon Blanc winemaking who spent years with Cloudy Bay and, as the production giant grew, knew his calling was in a new home; a boutique label that would allow him to weave his magic without the formulaic restraints of a commercial giant.

You may know the name of his new home, Waipara Springs, from the tiny snowcapped region of Waipara, which just happens to be the fastest growing wine region in New Zealand. Waipara Springs are the oldest kids on the block – small, family owned, and now winning accolades left right and centre. They offered the freedom for a winemaker to reveal all the miraculous layers that live in their limestone rich vines. Frank Manifold loved their philosophy and loved their soils even more, and a miraculous marriage was born.

Now although they’d never reveal their cards, there’s probably more than 500,000 bottles of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc rolling off the bottling line each year. In Waipara Springs’ case we’re talking minuscule numbers – they’re the Bugati winemakers of New Zealand, producing just 5,000 cases a year and with no wish to leap any way too far beyond that number. It unashamedly translates to handcrafted, allowing them to coax that extra special something out of the vines and take the greatest care in everything they do. We think it shows in a delicious range now landed in Ireland.

We now have the Waipara Springs 2008 Sauvignon Blanc in our Wine Warehouse, the first wine created by an ex Cloudy Bay talent. At our New Zealand tasting it wowed the crowd. And not that we need the reinforcement, but the current Wine Spectator Magazine (one of the lead authorities in wine buying in the U.S.) gave it a whopping 89 points, saying of it ‘Bright and juicy, with dazzling grapefruit and pineapple flavours, a wine with real polish’.

Forget Marlborough, claims Master of Wine Bob Campbell. With excellent growing conditions and an influx of producers, Waipara is stepping out of New Zealand’s shadows straight into the spotlight.

Here’s the top five did-you-knows on New Zealand’s new hot spot:

1. Waipara is strategically well-placed for tourism, and even more strategically placed to make high quality wine. The township of Waipara, which is roughly the region’s centre, lies 9km from the coast but is sheltered from cooling sea breezes by the Teviotdale Hills (just over 500m high).

2. It is New Zealand’s fastest growing wine region. The area of productive vineyards has grown by 55% since 2006, more than twice the rate of the country’s most bullish wine regions, Marlborough and Central Otago.

3. Waipara’s ‘big three’ grape varieties are Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Pinot Gris is very up and coming, with Chardonnay not too far ahead, both producing some outstanding wines.

4. Long, dry autumns and cool nights provide conditions to promote longer hang time for berries, delivering wines with greater elegance and concentration. Soils are clay loams over rich limestone, which are relatively free draining and ideally suited to growing the varietals mentioned.

5. Despite the interest from some of New Zealand’s largest wine producers, Waipara will never be a bulk region. Low and uneven cropping levels mean that quality winemaking is key for survival. New Zealand’s average yield in 2008 was 72hl/ha, whilst Waipara was only 33.5hl/ha.

Campbell points out that whilst Sauvignon Blanc might pay the bills, Riesling is more of a labour of love for wine producers. It would seem that Waipara was made for Riesling, so if you are a Riesling fan or would like to take a punt, the Waipara specialty white is a must try. We were delighted to see our Muddy Water James Hardwick received 5 Decanter Stars.

This is a timely post because the last day for our sale on New Zealand is this Saturday. 15% off when you buy two or more across the range. Happy hunting!

Bob Campbell MW is New Zealand’s leading wine educator, wine judge and wine writer. His article can be found in the February edition of Decanter.