With the netting of the vines completed yesterday, and an extra day in the year – the timing was perfect for today’s Golf day – spending the day out in the scorching sun was far more enjoyable thanks to the beers periodically dropped off to us from golf buggies, I can only sympathise with anyone attempting to play golf back at home at the moment!

It has been a great day, with teams entered from all sorts of local businesses – and a great way to get to know some of the guys from Matahiwi a bit better, even if my golf game still leaves a lot to be desired!

The grapes are well on the way to ripeness, with the Pinot Noir lovely and dark, and the Sauvignon blanc turning a lighter shade of green, the skins almost transparent.. After the last of the bird nets went on first thing yesterday, we spent the remainder of the day, first sewing up holes in the nets, and then going through the reserve Pinot block removing any bunches that were lagging behind in ripening, which will also push all the vines efforts over the coming weeks into the remaining grapes.

The other big news in the winery this week is that the drought in the Wairarapa province is starting to bite – our bore has dried up! and the vintage is only weeks away, when the winery is going to need enormous quantities of drinking-quality water. At the moment the rough guesstimates are that we’ll need a tanker of water brought in each day once we get started! Apparently wineries will generally use 7 litres of water for each litre of wine they produce – I didn’t realise it was so water intensive – but with all the rinsing of tanks, vats, pipes and other equipment, it soon adds up!