Once again I find myself apologising for the lack of posts lately – but we are finally back in our place after renovating and we have our own office – yay – no more fiasco paper work all over the kitchen table and beyond!  I should be able to get blogging again.  The only problem now is keeping the kids off the computer.  Finn has just turned eight and scored a ukulele for his birthday… which has led to two problems: he has decided to turn almost anything I say into a song and he models his songs on Phoebe’s (from the tv programme Friends) masterpieces.  I went in to tell him to get off the computer because it was tea time… and before we knew it we were all singing…”It’s time to log off, log off, log off…”  (Sometimes it’s less painful just to sing along, kinda like listening to someone chew gum – better off just joining them!)

Oh and for nostalgia’s sake, here’s a bit of Phoebe…and I see it’s ‘Smelly Cat’ not ‘Alley cat’ – same diff

Serious wine posts pending – we have bottled our 09 wine!!

One of the reasons we went with the name ‘Fiasco Wines’ is that we wanted something that reflected the action and vibrancy of making wine in Marlborough.  A ‘place name’ label  just seemed too sedentary to do justice to the reality. 

Before gaining first hand knowledge of the industry here, when thinking of winemaking I’d get pictures in my head of  little vineyards on hillsides, people carrying grapes in baskets and a wrinkled old man fluffing around over old barrels doing tastings.  I guess this was based on what I’d heard of Old World winemaking and it all seemed pretty slow paced and somewhat romantic.  But the reality couldn’t be more different.  There is state of the art technology; a myriad of different types of people working in the industry and the year just flies by with all that needs doing.  Harvesting the grapes is all action, with harvesters and wineries operating 24 hours a day throughout March, April and May.  Then there are a massive number of hectares needing pruning and hundreds of workers brought in from overseas to cope with the workload – so June to August is all go.  Then the new spring buds burst in September and frost fighting starts - with frost a very real risk until November.   There is some amazing technology involved in this and those on the job are often up half the night checking data and making the tough decisions on what action to take – helicopters and wind fans are not cheap and their noise causes a stir with the locals.  This time of year is also time to bottle and label the 2009 wines.  Ours are being bottled later this month.  The end of the year is busy for sales – with all the social events that come with Christmas, summer and general celebrations.  So I suggested to Aaron that early 2010 we should have a chance to have a breather and a Fiasco Wines party in the old woolshed on the vineyard.  “Sure,” said Aaron but don’t forget we’ll only be 8 weeks or so from harvest then!

Apologies for the lack of posts lately – we  have gib stoppers and painters in our house at the moment so have evacuated to the Marlborough Sounds.   We have often wondered what it would be like to live here fulltime and this has been our chance to give it a go – Mum & Dad’s bach is boat access only from Havelock and Aaron has been trialling commuting back into Blenheim to the winery a couple of days a week.  The trip takes about an hour and a half from the time you shut the backdoor in town, till you tie up to the end of the jetty here.  We are also trying out mobile broadband on our laptop so that we can keep up with e-mails, wine orders etc. 

And how has it been so far?  Well it goes without saying that we’ve had our share of fiascos – some funny and some not so funny.  Our poor little beagle managed to chomp into bait hanging off Finn’s fishing line and put a barbed fish-hook through her lip.  It was no easy job for Aaron to have to push the hook right through to remove it. Yooowwwwwouch! 

And then there was Aaron’s departure yesterday – it came up really gusty and rainy.  He attempted to row out to the boat  in the dinghy (really putting his Indevin rowing team skills to the test ) and after a long battle of five metres forward, three metres back, one metre sideways – he made it to our fizz boat on the mooring and waved goodbye victoriously.    Five minutes later we hear the sound of the boat returning – alas he is back.  We assumed he must have gotten around the point and decided the sea was too rough.  However the problem was his memory, or should I say his eyesight!  The boat is bobbing about in the small storm with Aaron yelling, “I forgot my car keys!”  “Find my car keys!”  “Can one of the kids bring down the keys?”  After much searching and yelling back and forth, we hear, “Ahhhh, I had them all along” and he takes off – even faster than before! 

But fiascos aside it has been pretty cool hanging out here with the kids.  The weather has been a bit disappointing but we’ve still done a bit of  fishing, hill walking, possum hunting, and lazing in the outdoors hot tub.  We’ve coped with the rain by cooking, playing board games and painting rocks ($2 shop fabric paint works a treat )  At times it feels a bit isolated – times like at night when it’s pitch black, stormy outside and you know you have no way out of here.  But with modern technology it’s really easy to connect.  We have cellphone coverage and the mobile broadband has worked surprisingly well and lets us do plenty (as long as gaming and movies are avoided) - and its free until Feb as part of the plan we’ve signed up to.    We’ve also had visitors over the weekend.  I can now see why folk that live in the Sounds get excited when the mail-boat arrives with supplies.  It was most exciting to see new faces and find new food .   We have a week to go and I hope it doesn’t go too fast.  If you’re out and about in the Sounds or want to be picked up from Havelock to come out for a visit – then let me know, you are most welcome!

Back at the winery it is almost time to bottle our 2009 wine and Aaron is busy getting another export order off to Aussie.  Our sales have picked up there which is encouraging.  Our distributor in Australia tells us those he supplies would love to meet the winemaker so it looks like there might be a trip across the Tasman on the cards.

You know you’ve made it to the top when your wine is matched with a Big Mac - would have been seriously gutted if we’d been matched to a cheap ol cheeseburger! 

But seriously, why not enjoy a great wine with a takeaway treat?  Loved that good down to earth piece Jayson and thanks for the mention  :-)

This is your chance to vent about all that went wrong this week while at the same time being in to win a FREE bottle of Fiasco wine to wind down with .  What we are looking for are stories about those times when, despite your best intentions, things just didn’t go to plan.  You share your fiascos and we’ll share ours! 

When we came up with the Fiasco label it was partly because we wanted to acknowledge that real life isn’t all smooth sailing.  The figure standing on the barrel while holding a glass of wine reflects the idea that sometimes we feel like we are running on a barrel  – trying to keep up with everything while searching for enough balance to also keep that glass of wine – to find time to look up, to taste life, to learn, and to enjoy ourselves.  For us, making wine is one ball in a juggling act that often does become a bit of a fiasco – but we have learned to laugh at such times and to enjoy the ride.    We think it’s important not to take ourselves too seriously and to celebrate fiascos – sometimes you just have to laugh!  And of course it helps to know that everyone has their share of fiascos – which should become apparent as we share a few stories.

Before I left Marlborough Girls College on maternity leave we ran an in-house fiasco of the week and it was great fun to hear of everyone’s workplace mishaps – and it often meant ending the week with a smile on my dial and thinking that in comparison to some, my week hadn’t been so disastrous after all!   So those staff from MGC who have been missing the Fiasco of the Week (and the wine!), here’s your chance to get back involved

The rules are simple:

Anyone can participate, although the wine prize must obviously go to someone over 18 years of age.

Use the comments form below this post to  tell us your fiasco – it doesnt matter how minor it may seem, you’d be surprised how much joy can come of hearing of others misfortune

You can nominate someone else or tell your own yarn.

Stories must be true  (albeit colourfully told) and must relate to events that have occured in the week prior as opposed to some time in the distant past.

You may use an alias to remain anonymous.

We will add your e-mail to our ‘Friends of Fiasco’ database and send you our monthly newsletter (you can unsubscribe  easily with no offence taken).

One bottle of wine will be awarded each Friday to a winner selected by yours truly, who is of course open to bribery, flattery and favours   Sorry we can’t post the  winning bottle outside of New Zealand – but we  can hold it for you until you get to this beautiful country of ours!

SO GET GOING AND TELL US YOUR FIASCOS – FIRST FREE WINE TO BE AWARDED TO THE BEST FIASCO ON THE LIST IN ONE WEEK’S TIME!

Oh and if you’ve had a bad day, take a moment out and sing karaoke at the top of your voice…

And be grateful you’re not in this vid – actually some of these are beyond funny…really shouldn’t still be laughing

It’s not long now until we bottle our 2009 Sauvignons and Gewurztraminer.  We have about 1/8 of last year’s vintage left to sell, which we are pleased about.  There is actually more to sales management than meets the eye as the challenge is to sell the stock steadily, not simply to sell the stock.  While it’s tempting to get it all sold quickly, it’s no good for the business reputation to then have to tell customers you have no wine for the remainder of the year.   So we have had to be careful about which deals to pursue while at the same time being careful to keep the sales moving.  

We have kept our Pinot Noir out of supermarkets as we have less of it and it cellars well.  Some wine companies haven’t even released their ‘08′ Pinots yet, preferring to let them age to a better taste.  So we will continue to sell our ‘08′  Black Pearl next year and beyond.  In fact, there is no reason that we can’t also keep selling our 2008 Sav, and we actually think it tastes better now than it did last year BUT consumers do seem to have a incorrect perception that Sauvignon Blanc must be drunk fairly quickly.  Sure, these whites don’t last as long as reds but Sav does in fact cellar well for 2 – 3 years and does mature and change. 

Some wineries have rushed their 2009 Savs out to meet the public demand for ‘new’ and ‘fresh.’  And I guess it’s not a bad move for lower end wines that make their money through a low cost, high sales volume approach.

My advice to wine drinkers out there would be that good things take time and also to enjoy the bargains as liquor outlets feel the need to clear out the ‘old’  ’08′ wine which is actually still far from its use by date.

I’m getting a bit worried about the guys in the fiasco family…

It has been pretty windy this weekend and I looked out the window yesterday to see a blur of colour and dare I say it a dash of gray hair…twas Dad flying by in his blow cart.  The sign at the front of the photo states something like:  ”Due to OSH regulations, all those entering the property be warned of general vineyard hazards in the area” - I’m not sure this would qualify as typical.  What ever happened to slowing down and retiring Grandad Max?

And then Aaron almost killed himself last night…we’d all turned in for the night except Aaron who decided to stay up, do a bit of tweeting then go feed the dog (so he tells me – translate: sneak in a sly smoke after a quiet Sat night beer ).  He swings open the doors that lead to our deck – well used to lead to our deck.  As part of the renovations the old deck was removed this week – however it has not yet been replaced, leaving a big drop and a dangerous minefield of piles and nails.  And so it was that Captain Chaos crashed into the night, somehow managing to fluke his landing between the lethal mix of dangerous objects.  And just as well because none of us would’ve found him til morning!  Whatever happened to looking or even maybe thinking before leaping?

 And then as if this weren’t enough, I go inside to find that Archie has traded allegiance and gone into marketing for Saint Clair.  I should have been suspect when he did the Saint Clair vineyard half marathon  while in the uterus, then went to the Saint Clair cafe for his great Nana’s 80th when he was a couple of days old…but adopting the monk get up – well that’s just over-stepping the mark!  We love Saint Clair, but what ever happened to loyalty boy?

Life feels like a juggling act at the moment (doesn’t it always I hear some of you sigh!) and that is part of running a small, family based wine label.  In fact I would imagine it’s part of running any small business, particularly when first starting out.  There is no big staff pool to delegate jobs to, no big cashflow to contract work out and you must be a jack of all trades.   The bonus is that you get to do a little bit of everything – there is always plenty of variety in the working day. 

At the moment Aaron works a couple of days at Indevin (a contract winemaking facility) and has the rest of the week to focus on Fiasco.  These ‘fiasco’ days  typically go something like:  6am – Go out rowing with the Indevin team (training for an upcoming inter-business event), 8 – 8.30 am – Get our older kids off  to school while I feed Archie…8.30 am – 12 pm prune grape vines, 12 – 12.30 Lunch break 1 -2.30 pm, Deal to e-mails and do paperwork (invoicing, etc), 2.30 – 4.30 pm Out and about – wine deliveries, supermarket tastings, meetings etc 4.30 – 6 pm do some more pruning if time, 6- 7pm take Finn to Taekwondo (Aaron is president of the club), 7.15- have tea and help get kids off to bed 8.15 -  Twitter time (Tweet up tonight at Dodsons!) and more paperwork.  In between that he is actually making our 09 wines and organising bottling and labelling … and amongst that we are having home rennovations done which Aaron needs to wire up (he was an electrician in his pre-winemaker days).  And on weekends, well its more pruning. 

And what do I do all day?   Well I try to help out here and there but mostly I’m on mum duties – must say I’d forgotten just how a new baby consumes time! 

We are over-flowing with ideas for Fiasco but arghhhh there just aren’t enough hours in the day.  We can’t complain though, we are fortunate that business is busy, we will soon have an inside toilet and a new room, we have a healthy bonny baby boy and a great wider family, and as we tie down the vine canes the sun is shining and spring growth is looking promising.     Oh and those of you eagerly awaiting the purple cows, be patient, once pruning is done and dusted we’ll be fattening the cattle .  For now we’re a bit like the bloke in our logo – running on the barrel …but we need to take his lead and make time for a wine!

I guess a girl can’t complain about having male strippers in her backyard all week…

Yes we are slowly winning the pruning battle.  We’ve made all the cuts and this week have done the stripping (so called as it involves stripping out all the old canes).  Now its onto the final stage –  tying down.  We need to make sure it’s all done before spring bud burst and have to say its been tempting to just pay a gang of workers to come in and complete it in one hit.   But we will get there slowly but surely doing it ourselves.  It has been challenging this year as I am couch bound feeding our little bub Archie and Aaron is often dragged (kicking and screaming   ) from the vineyard to fulfill other winemaking and marketing duties.   We are lucky to have the help of Aaron’s Dad, Noel and one of his mates Geoff Beavis – guys who are willing to use their spare time to give us a hand and who don’t mind being paid in wine!  You guys are legends! 

I asked Aaron to give us a pic for the blog to show readers what stripping involved…WARNING – R18, CONTAINS HORROR – …

Stripping in the vineyard '09'