Wrights Vineyard & Winery

Valentine's Day at Wrights Vineyard

THE first grapes harvested for the 2017 vintage came in, on Valentines Day in Gisborne, with a bit of a romantic twinge. Wrights Vineyard and Winery owners Geoff and Nicola Wright picked grapes for their verjuice today, sold to restaurants around New Zealand.





Nicola, a lawyer, came to Gisborne to find Mr Right, who she hoped would be a wine maker, 15 years ago. Now married and with half a football team of boys to help, love is still in the air at the Manutuke vineyard and winery. With no roses nearby, Geoff presented Nicola with a sunflower as the harvest began this morning. “It’s quite romantic harvesting grapes on Valentines Day, but also hard work,” he said. Metservice have compared this year’s summer to 1998, which produced some stunning wines from this region, Geoff said. “At present our grapes are one-and-a-half weeks ahead this year. Touch wood the season carries on being a stunner for the Gisborne wine region.” He has just returned from a sales trip around New Zealand. “Our organic wines are in huge demand all around the country. Our Chinese market is expanding and we have now set up a merchant team in China promoting our wines and we plan to utilise Alibaba online platform this year. “In years to come our grapes from Gisborne Vintage 2017 will be in high demand. We are excited to be part of this journey for the Gisborne wine region.”

Filmed and Edited by
Ben Cowper

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Music - My Valentine by The Dada Weatherman.

Weekend of Wine and Food Gisborne

A NEW format for Gisborne’s Weekend of Wine and Food won the thumbs-up from wineries and punters at the weekend but has challenges to overcome. Event organiser Prue Younger said overall everyone was very happy but there were definitely issues with transportation and getting the new concept across the line.





Instead of having the event at one venue, as it has been in the past few years, organisers went to a two-day traditional “cellar door” event over Labour Weekend. Issues with the buses were directly related to last-minute ticket buying — a few hundred extra tickets were sold on Sunday morning, she said. “It is just so difficult to manage the logistics when people do not buy tickets until the day of the event.” Saturday, which was a wet, cooler day, saw about 400 people taking part and that number doubled on Sunday when the sun came out. There were two bus lines — one out to Ormond, including Makaraka, and the other to Matawhero, Manutuke and Muriwai. “We didn’t really know how people were going to move on Saturday and had a few problems getting them around, so resolved that for Sunday and put extra buses on. “Then the bulk of the people went on the Matawhero line, so it was hard to shift people around.” All in all, the event has been hailed a success. Police had only a couple of minor incidents to deal with over the two days. A wide age range attended and notably many from the older demographic. “This was our target market and 35 to 40 percent of people were from out of town. Tickets sold all over the country between Dunedin and Auckland.” Auckland couple Sarah and Phillip Knight attended on Sunday for the first time and said they would definitely be back. “We have had a wonderful day. We couldn’t get to many places but where we did go has been amazing. Lovely food and great wines. The district should be proud of what it has to offer,” said Mr Knight.

A Hawke’s Bay couple also loved the event. They said better marketing in their district would draw a lot more people. Ms Younger said the aim was to have a completely new and different event, and spread the wine and food experience of the district over two days. This meant at the individual venues there were fewer people and they had the infrastructure to cope. Winemaker Geoff Wright from Wrights Vineyard and Winery said it was great to have the wine and food weekend back at the cellar door in a different format. “It gave local and outside people the chance to experience our cellar doors. The wineries all offered something unique and it was more of a wine and food experience than ever before.” They ended up having about the same number of people each day, with Saturday more intimate and indoors because of the wet weather. The Colosseum took part in the event on Sunday only and featured five wineries — Garagiste, Hihi Wines, Stone Bridge Wines, 747 Trading and Cognoscenti. Colosseum food included whitebait fritters and venison sausages. Transportation problems meant this and neighbouring wineries turned into popular venues and Hihi Wines’ Andy Nimmo said it was almost too popular. “We almost ran out of food and got low on wine and beer supplies. “Our music — DJ Lincoln Wright doing vinyl appreciation — fitted in perfectly and we were really pleased with the atmosphere. Patrons had a good time and were well behaved.”Down the road was Matawhero Wines and next door Poverty Bay Wines’ Bridge Estate — both were also well received. Millton Vineyard and Winery held a private Cornerstones of Taste Long Lunch for 120 people. The menu was provided by Auckland restaurant Cazador, which specialises in wild foods. “It was an exceptional lunch with an incredible bunch of peope.

Filmed and Edited by
Ben Cowper

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