Johner Estate

Nick Blampied-Lane from Cloudy Bay tasting our Pinot Noir

patrick — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 07:23:11 +0000

Nick Blampied-Lane from Cloudy Bay visited us the other day and tasted our Pinot Noir for his big worldwide Pinot Noir tasting event held at Cloudy Bay.

He also brought his camera and filmed us.

Our interview starts at 2.00 minutes.

Martinborough Visit from Cloudy Bay on Vimeo.

Mending nets

patrick — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 10:05:20 +0000

It is definitely a sign that the Harvest is over when you see the nets being rolled up and then checked for holes. The team at Joner are sharpening up their sewing skills and armed with string & a nifty finger knife they are onto the next job, net mending.
A pleasant task when the sun is out but now the mornings are getting very chilly you can imagine they do not enjoy this stationary work in the cold. Today is a lovely sunny day so there are smiles all around.
It appears that there are more holes then usual as with the higher rainfall over Harvest and the diligent watering done prior, the growth was a lot more than other years. As the nets were removed the team had to carefully pull the foliage off the nets as tractor was winding them in. Now the job is to check & mend the nets before storing, so all will be ready when the time comes to put the nets on again. It is good to see that both the men & women are working together on this and we notice that one of the team has the prime spot sitting on the tractor!!

Wellington Food Show 2011

patrick — Wed, 25 May 2011 09:43:04 +0000

CALLING ALL LOVERS OF FINE WINES………

The biggest annual wine event of the calendar is on again!

The Wellington Food show is the weekend of the 27/28/29 May and is once again held at the Westpac Stadium (or caketin as it is less formally known!)

STAND No. 133

We at Johner Estate are very excited at the prospect of showing our many friends our latest vintages.

Please don’t forget that you will be able to sample these from our truly fabulous european wine glasses which we specially import from Germany in order that you have the finest tasting experience.

Here is the list of wines, we will be showing…

2010 Sauvignon Blanc Sur Lie
2010 Sauvignon Blanc
2010 Pinot Gris Wairarapa
2010 Rose Wairarapa
2009 MOONLIGHT Pinot Noir
2008 Pinot Noir Gladstone
2007 Pinot Noir Gladstone “Reserve”
2009 Pinot Noir Gladstone “Reserve”
2009 Cabernet Merlot & Malbec Wairarapa
2009 Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot Lyndor Wairarapa
2009 Noble Pinot Noir Gladstone Dessert wine
2009 Noble Sauvignon Blanc Gladstone Dessert Wine

So, all that remains to be said, is, we look forward to seeing you at the Wellington Food show, look for the Johner stand in its usual place, its always easy to identify by the crowds around it listening avidly to winemaker and owner Karl Johner as he shares his passion and knowledge of wine with those stopping in and of course we always look forward to meeting you and putting names to faces!

SEE YOU

Kind regards

The Johner sales team

Great Pinot Noir Blind Tasting with our staff.

patrick — Mon, 02 May 2011 07:36:38 +0000

Unofficial end to Harvest!

Karl put together for 14 of the staff a very exciting and informative evening. We have here at Johner quite an international line up of staff, with Kiwis, Germans, Swiss & French!

Karl gathered together 14 different Pinot Noirs to give us all the opportunity to gain an overview of Pinot Noirs. They were Wairarapa Wines except for two which came from Central Otago. This tasting was conducted as a blind tasting and of recently released 2009 Pinot Noir wines.

Karl kept the bottles covered as we tasted the wines. 14 glasses of Pinot Noir wine certainly looked very impressive as we arrived at our delightful cellar door. At this blind tasting everyone gave points out of 20 and then had to vote for the overall winner.

Interesting enough the most positive comments were awarded to Escarpment, but for Karl the Ata Rangi Pinot was top notch. The tasting panel showed quite a preference to Te Muna Road Pinot Noir.
In this tasting the wines were revealed according to the most liked which meant that the Air NZ Trophy winner & the top grade wines from Matthew Dukes and Tyson Stellzer got revealed reasonably late in the proceedings! Our own Johner wines were quite a favourite for the French due to their more European approach. It was good to see our Pinots averaged in the middle of preference overall.

This research was carried out in a very professional manner and we were very fortunate to have had this opportunity to smell, taste and see the differences between the Pinots. All in all they are not too far apart from each other!

Presenting our wines to the Wine Club members of the Upper Hutt Cosmopolitan Club

patrick — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:19:13 +0000

Last night we presented 9 wines to the Wine Club members of the Upper Hutt Cosmopolitan Club. Jenni introduced Karl to the large gathering and as Karl spoke Jenni and some helpers poured a tasting beginning with Savignon Blanc 2010 and then to compare it with the Sauvignon Blanc sur lie 2010. Karl entertained with many stories, how he became a vinteur, where he had wine making experience and then how he got to establish a vineyard here in NZ.
Interspersed with the stories and the wine, NZ Bluff oysters were served in many different ways, luckily we got to try a few of them ourselves mmmmm! Two more whites were tasted; Pinot Gris & Chardonnay both 2010 and the Wine Club were most impressed. It is good to see that Chardonnay is making a come back after being out of favour for a few years. Chardonnay just needs to be delicious and our Chardonnay definately was.
The evening continued with 3 Reds, Moonlight 2009 our easy drinking burgundy style Pinot Noir, then our elegant 2008 Pinot Noir to be completed by the delightful Cabernet & Merlot “Lyndor” Wairarapa 2009. There were smiles all around, especially as Karl instructed them on swirling the wine clockwise or anti-clockwise, how it aerates the wine, improves the flavour but swirled the wrong way, it wouldn’t soften the wine but harden it!!
The night finished with oysters au natural and our beautiful dessert wine, Noble Sauvignon Blanc 2009. Many of the Wine Club members took up the opportunity to stock up and as they mingled they were very complimentary on the evening, the best Wine Tasting evening there had been too. Well done Karl!

Evening session with Karl at the Wairarapa Wine Cellar in Greytown

patrick — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 07:02:05 +0000

On Friday 15th the first evening session at the Wairarapa Wine Cellar was held. This successful event saw Karl speaking to a large group of wine enthusiasts about selected wines from the local boutique wine growing areas. The entertaining and informative talk was only interrupted for the enjoyment of Greytowns’ Cuckoo pizza. The pizzas did a great job of complementing the wines that were tasted.
Karl spoke about the special terrior north of Martinborough that created elegant and different flavoured wines. He was entertaining and many thoroughly enjoyed his passionate outlook on making wonderful wine.
One group of ladies that attended said that they were fascinated on Karls’ blind tasting stories and they particulary liked learning about the sensory components within the wine.
It was great that everybody felt comfortable in sharing what they liked whether it was the fruit flavours or the linguring after taste.
We were fortunate to have other wine makers happy to mingle with the crowd. Wine stories were shared and every one was well looked after. Many were happy to stay on after Karl had finished his presentation. From the feed back on the night this will be the first of many successful evenings at Greytowns’ Wairarapa Wine Cellar.

Preparing Barrels for 2011 Pinot Noir

patrick — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 06:28:25 +0000

During the fermentation the yeast ferments the sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxid. This will lift the skins to the top on to the juice / young wine and form a cap. Now as all the color components and tannins are located in the skins this cap needs to be plunged down to mix it up with the juice again. As you can see in the picture, here we are using a semi-automated system.

Tomorrow the first of the Pinot Noir will be pressed, as the fermentation is over and it has had enough skin contact.

Now it is time to get the French Oak Burgandy Barrels out of storage and check them over before being cleaned. Water is put into each barrel to make it all water-tight. It is of course very important that there are no leaks. The barrels are sorted and those that pass the test are then cleaned with very hot water, cooled and the taste test is done to make sure they smell just right!

There is such a lot of cleaning done in this wine making process, not only are the barrels cleaned but all the equipment used must be thoroughly cleaned.
These men would do any kitchen proud.

Pinot Noir from Fraser Vineyard

patrick — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 06:46:58 +0000

The harvest team is out in Martinborough at the Fraser block, picking Pinot Noir grapes which ripen there earlier than in Gladstone. Just another perfect day for picking with its’ warm, mild temperatures.

Dale transports the fruit in large plastic bins here to the winery. Yesterday, we had some trouble with our forklift. Suddenly it didn’t start anymore and we hab to realise how dependent we are and how the whole process stops… But then luckily it started again… Phew!

Wasps and Bees on the grapes

patrick — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 10:04:07 +0000

One of the big problems in the wine industry is pests. Wasps and bees attack the grapes and damage the berries. They make a hole and suck the juice and this makes the juice oxidize and go brown. If you pick such grapes and use them to make wine it will change the colour of the wine and the smell. As the wasps and bees attacks sporadically it makes the grapes difficult to select. Luckily here at Johner we hand harvest so our team are always on the alert for grape damage and they are careful to only select the best grapes. You can be assured that they also keep a wary eye out for these pests as they sure have a nasty sting.

So far our Kiwi Grant is winning the “How many stings?” Competition, 3 times – ouch!! Johannes is glad he has only been stung once!

Inspecting Grapes at Little Vineyards and Lyndor

patrick — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:20:37 +0000

A few days ago Karl inspected the grapes at Little Vineyards. Karl keeps a close eye on the grapes and is checking for the level of ripeness. This vineyard is situated just east of Masterton on limestone soil and is owned by Nick Dench. Karl makes his wines, and they are under Nick Dench’s label of “Little Vineyards of Wairarapa”

Our top of the range Cabernet & Merlot “Lyndor” is sourced from a vineyard not far from Nick Dench’s Pinot Noir. The grapes were first planted in the clay limestone soil in 1986. It is one of the oldest established vineyards north of Martinborough.

As you can see… that the vines are certainly old!