5th of October 2011
Preferring to hasten slowly with the development of the Bald Hills brand we decided in “the early days” to conduct tastings at home! We opened our front door and ushered them into the kitchen back in 2002 and my how they loved it! Newspapers hastily folded, dishes in the sink, Grandma’s vege and lamb bone soup bubbling on the stove, cushions, sofas and sun pouring in, plus views to die for. They bought our wine gratefully and we greeted them as the honoured guests they were!
Kitchen tasting in the old days
Today we do things differently. Still in the home but now from a bedroom painted raspberry pink and furnished with junk-shop finds and opening directly to the garden. Repeat visitors speak wistfully of the kitchen days! First-time visitors enjoy the “ambiance” even though crushed in cheek by jowl, not knowing how it used to be. Who knows, we might even re-introduce the kitchen and find a renter for the bedroom – probably it’s wise to think laterally in these hard times!
The converted bedroom
With interest continuing to build at Bald Hills however we often consider building a State of the Art Cellar Door with Winery Attached, but for now the “converted bedroom” works for us!
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18th of August 2011
When we first came back to New Zealand in 1996 and lived in South Otago people talked about going “up Central.” Sort of like going “up North” or “down South”but it never sounded quite right.(Anyway that’s just an aside.)
It turns out to be really good living in Central, especially this part, Bannockburn. When the rest of you all froze to death last week we were warm and cosy because our houses are built for polar blasts. Double glazing, insulation in ceilings and walls, central heating and so on.A bit of snow fell, but that’s nothing unusual, and it soon melted away to add some moisture to the dry earth. Winters are pretty dry here. In fact it’s dry all year around generally and that’s one of the best things about living up Central. While most of the rest of New Zealand is green with pasture and trees, Central is rather barren.
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29th of July 2011
Funny how things turn out and what you learn along the way and funny too how fortune favours the brave.
Being very much in awe of vineyards, wineries, winemakers and viticulturists and not wanting to make a mistake due to our inexperience in this field we employed the best winemaker and the best viticulturist in Central Otago at the time. We wanted the wines to be good – very good – partly because we knew if we fell on hard times we would have to drink it ourselves or give it away to long-suffering friends. So we were brave, hired the best, and started entering competitions!
Lo! our very first vintage the Bald Hills Pinot Noir 2002 took GOLD at the Air NZ Wine Awards. How easy is that? Piece of cake this competition thing. But it was to be a long time between drinks as the saying goes. People said first vintages often pulled out all stops, as if the vines worried they might never do it again and put on their best show. Maybe that’s true. Maybe joy in this new-found vocation on our parts and our enthusiasm seeped into the wine! Maybe luck had a hand. Whatever. But we are still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed so we must have been doing something right.
Not long-suffering at all - a happy buyer!
Anyway enough about us. Will talk about living in Central Otago next time.
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13th of July 2011
Blair and I came to New Zealand from Sydney, in 1996. We love Australia but our families are here and both mothers were alive then so it was really good to be back. We bought this bare block early in 1997, built a house and planted a vineyard. Blair had taken the position of CEO at Telford Rural Polytechnic and it wasn’t until March 2001 that we actually came to live in the house we had built.Well, we didn’t exactly build it – not with our bare hands as such, but we had the plans drawn up, jumped through the Resource and Building Consent hoops, employed a builder and paid all the bills.
Just practising
The first vines went in in 1997. We started with a couple of hectares of Pinot Noir and gradually extended into Pinot Gris and Riesling. We knew nothing apart from how to drink the product and we had a fair bit of experience there, but Robin Dicey and Greg Hay looked at the land and advised us. We dug a few deep holes so we could examine the profile, got more advice, then took the plunge. Robin did the designing and planting. We had to use cuttings back then because of the wait for grafted vines and anyway there was no sign of Phylloxera in Central Otago so we were pretty safe.
Neither Blair nor I knew anything about wine making but we had a few years grace before decisions had to be made. Grant Taylor took us on and that must have been the luckiest day of our lives!
Estelle Hunt, July 12 2011
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