Austen's Vintner Adventure '25

Week 2 at Villa Maria was a bit more eventful than Week 1, but still not many grapes coming in yet. Blenheim encountered a cooler and more overcast summer than usual, which has caused a slower ripening process out in the vineyards. That's another unusual part of the winemaking line of work - Mother Nature does what Mother Nature does, and you have to play by her rules! I found out that I'll be on the Clarification Team, where our job is to clarify the freshly-pressed grape juice to prepare it for fermentation. We have a few fairly complex machines to help us out, but essentially we add a clay-like volcanic ash called Bentonite, along with Nitrogen, to clump all of the "solids" together that exist in the unclarified juice. From there, we're able to separate the clarified juice, send it to a tank, sprinkle in some yeast, and watch it become wine. That fermentation process (yeast + sugar = alcohol) only takes about 10-14 days. Separately, those unclarified "soli...

Given that we do not have much fruit coming in yet, our work schedule is typically 8 hours a day for 4-5 days per week. Once we start harvesting the Sauv Blanc grapes in 1-2 weeks, things will get CRAZY. At our peak, we're looking at 12 hour days for 6 days a week (which should last 3 weeks or so before calming back down). Knowing that 2 consecutive days off is a privilege right now, I decided to explore Saturday & Sunday while I had the time. I planned a quick trip to Abel Tasman National Park, with a stop in Nelson in each direction. Nelson is a slightly bigger and more lively Blenheim (where I'm staying) with beautiful Chinese gardens, golden sand coastline, and the "Center of New Zealand" monument. Here are some pics before I continue onto the rest of my post below: Now for Abel Tasman - this NP is essentially one long walking path along the coast that takes 3-5 days to complete. However, you can take a water taxi up the coast, walk a portion of the track, and...