Brightwater Vineyards News and Events

Winter 2011 It has been an interesting vintage for us here at Brightwater. The early summer months were hot and dry. The grass dried out and browned off and we were on watering restrictions before Christmas. I don’t think we’ve had that before. Then, after New Year, the weather returned to its usual form with a mix of hot sunny days and the occasional rain. The effect of this was that the vines were carrying a full crop of grapes. To reduce this we spent more time than usual thinning out the grape bunches in our vineyards. This was so that the vines didn’t try to ripen too much fruit. Harvest started early this year and with a rush. It seemed that everything was ripening at the same time. A very busy couple of weeks, then, by the start of April, just about everything had been picked. Another two weeks and it was all in the tanks. Fermenting nicely. Now, the young wines are looking very promising. At this stage, for me, I think the Pinot Gris, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc are looking particularly good. Meanwhile, we have been getting some very good reviews for our current release of wines. The May/June 2011 issue of Winestate Magazine has a review of wines from the Nelson and Wairarapa regions. In this our Brightwater Vineyards 2010 Nelson Sauvignon Blanc was awarded 5 stars and judged to be the best wine in the Sauvignon Blanc class. Similarly our Brightwater Vineyards Lord Rutherford 2010 Pinot Gris was awarded 4 ½ stars and also judged to be the best wine in the Pinot Gris category. Our Brightwater Vineyards 2010 Pinot Gris was second! Always nice to be compared with your peers! Also, in the February/March 2011 issue of Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine, Bob Campbell MW writes about small New Zealand wineries on the brink of stardom. In this he praises Brightwater as having “a clear vision of the wine style and quality they want to make and a determination to achieve that goal…. Most importantly their wines excite me!” Bob notes that “the Brightwater Vineyards Lord Rutherford Sauvignon Blanc has earned a gold medal in every vintage.” The latest of these is a Pure Gold medal at the Bragato Wine Awards for the 2010 Lord Rutherford Sauvignon Blanc. “Pure” medals are only awarded to wines where the vineyard and winery have received full sustainable certification. Something we are very proud to support. Cheers Gary