Craggy Range Winery and our Hawkes Bay Mini-break...

When I was home Peter and I took a mini-break down to the Hawke's Bay. It is a lovely part of New Zealand, where I spent six months as a registrar in a large rural hospital in the middle of amazing wine country. I stayed in Havelock North, a very nice township, just 5 minutes down the road from several wineries, including  Craggy Range. It transpires that it was our builder who built Craggy Range winery! Here are some pictures of the winery...

Peter and I stayed with friends that run a B&B down there, and collected four wine barrels from The Mission Estate  winery to bring home for use at Willowbrook. There are a few ornamental uses we have thought of for them...

Peter also got a one-on-one lesson on how to prune our vines this winter from an expert who prunes the vines for Villa Maria, Church Road, and Esk Valley Estates among other prominent NZ Vineyards...

There are many methods for pruning a grapewine, but the method we will use and which Peter had lessons on is known as spur pruning. This allows one to have a permanent cordon (main vine). This is the traditional French style of pruning. It allows you to grow a nice thick, visually pleasing vine and simply prune back the newly grown spurs to this cordon each year. This is in contrast to cane renewal pruning, in which the best cane left on the trunk at the end of the season is selected to become the new cordon for the following year.

Above: Vines grown with a permanent cordon.

First you select the cane you wish to become your main cordon, prune it and tie it to your main wire...

We did this last year, and so this winter we will now start to spur prune. You need to trim the cordon so that it has about seven spurs on it (at most ten)... 

Each spur is pruned back to 2 buds above the main cordon...

Too many spurs = too many bunches of grapes, which dilutes the flavour and vigour of each bunch. Each spur should be about a hand space apart...

The finished product: a trunk with a permanent cordon going each way along the wire, each side having 7-10 spurs, 2 buds long... 

Update 29 June: putting Peter's pruning lesson into practice!

Above: Vineyard prior to pruning.

Below: After.

Finished product: a beautiful cordon... 

Deadwood...

The Wine Cellar Revised...

Gone are my dreams of having a large vaulted subterranean dipsomaniac's dream cellar. When I last blogged about are hopes for a cellar in 2009 we had planned to have a large basement level underneath the manor house. However, due to sticking to the b*dget (It should be a rude word), we had to drastically minimse the basement level. Now I can do without a home theatre, I can do without a bowling alley (not that we ever wanted one of those) But, I will not do without a wine cellar.

I am not a connoisseur, and although my knowledge of NZ wines is very good, I am a novice when it comes to Bordeaux or Super-Tuscans. But I am a collector by nature and I am a traveler. I have designed places in the manor house to display all our collections, and I don't see why wine should be any different.

Also, it is my plan one day to take an extended tour of the chateaux and vineyards of the Loire valley. And when I do, it would be nice to bring some mementos home with us.

So, having settled on the plan there is only one place a wine cellar can now go, adjacent to and under the stairs. Luckily it is a 12 foot stud, and there is a little space between the stairs and lift. So, I stayed up last night re-researching cellar ideas for homes. I then use photoshop to design the cabinetry for the four walls using component ideas I had found. I then downloaded sketchup, learnt how to use it and had a little play. These are the results!

Firstly: narrow is OK. It does not need to be a spacious cavern...

Secondly: Why become down and out when you can go up:

Niches are very popular...

as are cabinets under the niches, such as this one being used as a cigar humidor...

Wine racks can be free standing...

or built in...

Bottles don't have to be perpendicular to the wall. If a narrow area is all you have, try a little lateral thinking...

Sliding trays are stylish (but do take up room)...

and a presentation level at mid torso height is a great way to display your finest vintages...

You can think outside the box and go for diamonds....

But remember, it is hip to be square. When you need a little storage space for something that isn't a bottle you may regret going for diamonds...

When we finally take that Loire tour, I am going to bring home plenty of wooden boxes...

Seeing the bottles is important. A cellar is about display as well as organisation and storage. Otherwise people would keep them in a cardboard box somewhere. Glass doors and windows add that finishing touch to your collection....

Trying to still evoke that memory of a medieval chateaux, wrought iron sconces and chandeliers  help a lot (coupled with masonry and rough hewn stone floors)...

I have found a chandelier that I love...

and a back up... 

Matched with wall sconces...

and One can really go to town with the ironwork when it comes to doors...

again, they are a mixture og glass and iron so that One can see in. 

It adds intrigue, esp if the doors are locked!

I did briefly contemplate a spiral staircase cellar under the kitchen, but with regard to engineering costs we would be right back to where we started.

Goodbye underground treasure cave...

I got a lot of inspiration for the component design with the help of a most amazing cellar design website http://kessickwinecellars.com/. They have some amazing ideas to play around with.