I have never seen 3000 empty cartons of milk in a vineyard but I had to believe my eyes this morning at Jackson Estate’s newly-planted Pinot Noir site.
Viticulturalist Geoff and I headed down to one of its Lower Waihope vineyards this morning and there were the So Good Soya Lite milk cartons in their new life as vine guards, stopping rabbits from getting their hungry paws on them. Best of all, they’re biodegradable.
The naughty rabbits and hares have been getting stuck into the irrigation lines too after a remarkably dry summer. “They must have been thirsty,†said Geoff. It’s more spurt than drip irrigation where those rabbits have been chewing the pipes, giving the vineyard team even more work to do.
How to solve it? Rabbit stew. I’m sure it would go lovely with a glass of Pinot. Geoff likes his slow cooked with duck – or if you need a good recipe for Thai chicken rice, he’s your man.
Back in the winery, all the Pinot Noir is now harvested. The final parcel has come in and there’s just a little Sauvignon Blanc to follow. There’s a chance Jackson will make a botrytised Riesling for the first time in four years plus its first-ever botrytised Chardonnay, so we’ll probably head out into the vineyard to see how that’s going later in the week.
I’ve been enjoying stirring the lees of the Shelter Belt Chardonnay again today and am finding it quite therapeutic: 15 stirs forward, 15 stirs back, breathe (not too deeply or you’ll get woozy from the CO2), and on to the next barrel. Who needs yoga when you’ve got wine?
