('COUNTRY CALENDAR' THEME) - (WHISTLES) - Always a favourite on every rural road.... (DOG BARKS) - Making hay is as much of an art form as it is a science. - Two brothers making their mark on the family business. - It's been a wonderful season this year for growing grapes. - The boys have done fantastic. The place is a credit to them, it really is. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2024 (INSECTS CHIRRUP) (INDISTINCT CHATTER) - At Caythorpe Family Estate near Blenheim, the cherry harvest is in full swing. - Hey, Rosita, how's the picking going. Wow. Beautiful. Beautiful size and colour in there. It's fantastic. Some lovely ripening over the weekend, huh? - Yeah. (CHUCKLES) - Great. You keep up the good work. Thank you. - Thank you. - Simon Bishell's in charge of cherries at the family farm. - We're in the middle of December at the moment, so it's the heart of our picking season, and we run right up until a few days prior to Christmas. There's 13 here picking today in the orchard. - First, you need to select the right colour and the right size. Obviously, using both hands makes you faster, eh. - Some of the professional pickers, like Mateo, it's incredible to see how fast they can pick their hands ` just go up to the branch and their fingers move and cherries just rain into the bucket. I'm not sure quite how they do it, but it's a pleasure to watch when you own an orchard. And cherries, size is everything. The larger the cherry, the more valuable it is, the more marketable it is, and the better our return. We want something that is nice and sweet and pleasant to eat, a little bit like a nice apple, or even like a beautiful glass of Sauvignon Blanc. We still want a little bit of acid and a little bit of crunch in there too, which often gives it that flavour profile. - Today they're picking Rosann cherries. They grow five different varieties at Caythorpe, which spreads the season ` and the risk. - We have a very small window to get the crop off, and also it's very weather dependent. Rain is not our friend at this time of the year. It damages, it splits the cherries and makes them unmarketable. So when you're a cherry grower, you love a drought and you love the sun and dry weather, and thankfully, that is what Mother Nature is delivering us this season. Wow, what a fantastic-looking fruit. Look at that lovely glossy sheen. How could you not enjoy that for Christmas? Beautiful. - As soon as the bins are full, they're off to the chiller. - With cherries, it is absolutely crucial as soon as they picked off the tree to keep them out of the sun and also to take the field heat out of them. This is the new harvest management software that we've just introduced this season for recording how many KG's and the bins that pickers have picked out in the orchard. Every picker is registered with a QR code. (MACHINE BEEPS) Pickers are all paid on a piece rate, so we pay them per KG, so the more they put, the more they earn. We do a lot of things here at Caythorpe that's all about making life easier, reducing labour and creating efficiency. The chiller is the best place to be on a hot day like today. - Simon runs the family business with his brother, Scott. (BOTH GREET EACH OTHER) They're the fifth generation of Bishells to farm at Caythorpe. - Things are looking good out there today. - They are indeed. Morning, team. How are we? - Hi, guys. - Morning. - They work in different parts of the business, so smoko's usually the day's first chance for a catch-up. - How are we going, team? How's the day been? Caythorpe is the name of the town that our great-great-grandfather David emigrated from when he came out from England in 1876. - And then four years later, he bought a parcel of land that now makes up this property in 1880, so almost 144 years of Bishells farming this piece of land. - Yeah. We'll get out there today and get our big stack of hay covered. - We actually get on pretty well, surprise, surprise. But we do have quite defined roles and specialities of what we do in the business. You know, Scott's passion is the farm and the animals and making hay. My passion is more the viticulture, the cherries and trying to sell some wine. - Generations of Bishells have tried different ways of farming this land, from veges to sheep and cattle and horticulture, and Scott's following in his forebears' footsteps. - My role at Caythorpe here is basically in charge of the traditional farming operation. We do a lot of winter store lambs that we fatten in the vineyard, and we have a few cattle, and then obviously that arable side of things. People come from all over the place to buy our hay. So we specialise in equine meadow mix and also a lot of lucerne hay as well. Making hay is as much of an art form as it is a science. We are giving it a rake, so essentially fluffing it up, get the air through it to dry it out properly, and we could do that up to two to three times depending on the crop, how wet it is and how heavy, before we bale it. - At Caythorpe, there's a proud tradition of hay-making. - Innovation is something that is sort of carried through the Caythorpe farm from previous generations of Bishells. My great-great-grandfather, David Bishell, was the first person to grow red clover as a seed crop in New Zealand. He also helped design the first red-clover threshing and cleaning machine, built by Andrews & Beaven in the late 1800s. I've learnt everything about hay-making off my father. He's a bit of a guru at it. - Murray Bishell has farmed here all his life. He still lives on the property, but now leaves the day-to-day running to his sons. - Howdy. - Aye, it looks pretty good. - Looks pretty good, doesn't it? Yep. There's lots of lovely clover in there. - Yep. Not far away from baling. - Right. I'd better carry on. - Yeah, you'd better carry on. - Before it gets too dry. - Yeah. - I'll catch you later. - I'll catch up with you later, Scott. Just let us know if you want a hand with anything. I had a very good reputation for making good lucerne hay ` and meadow hay ` so hopefully I've instilled it into Scott. I'm not too involved anymore, but I'm there to help and offer advice whenever I can. It's a great thing, great family tradition. - It hasn't always been easy. When Murray's dad died in the early '80s, they nearly lost the farm. - There was a stage there after my father died, with death duties and everything, and I had a lot of debt. Someone says, 'Oh, well, why don't you sell some?' I said, 'No, it's never going to happen.' Never gonna happen, as far as I was concerned. - To keep afloat, Murray and his late wife, Diana, moved into horticulture, planting the first crop of cherries in the mid-'80s. - I really loved that the cherries were just great. And then we diversified a bit and we planted 10 acres of Pinot Noir, and we sort of branched out there. The boys have done fantastic. The place is a credit to them, it really is. It's a credit to them. - Simon and Scott have stamped their own mark on the farm, embracing technology to improve the bottom line. - So this is the cherry orchard of the future. Two and a half years ago, this was just a bare open field, and my brother, Scott, used to make hay out of it. - This new 2ha block grows cherries under a high-tech cover. - This will also have an automated rain-protection system, which is not quite installed yet. If we can essentially mitigate against the rain risk, then it's like an insurance policy. - Unlike their traditional cherry orchard, these are grown on a central leader system. It's a slightly higher-density planting. The traditional orchard has 1250 trees per hectare, and in this system, we have 1666 trees per hectare. It's very fast to pick because the fruit is literally sitting right in front of you like a wall. So around about 50% faster to pick; and then pruning, it's around about 80% faster. Less time working and more time playing, which is kind of, you know, why are we're here. - But at this time of the year, it's more work, less play. (SERENE MUSIC) - In the heart of Marlborough wine country, Scott Bishell from Caythorpe Family Estate is off to bale the hay he's been drying for the last few days. - We're surrounded by grapes. I'm one of the few bastions of arable farming here in the central plains and the Wairau Valley. - The farm has around 50ha planted for hay, producing 14,000 bales a year. - From planting the paddock to growing the crop and then cutting it, raking it and trying to work in with Mother Nature to get everything at the right time and to produce an optimum product, yeah, I get a lot of satisfaction about that. - Baling is usually done in the evening. - We wanna make sure that the stalks are a wee bit crunchy during the daytime to know that we've got all the moisture out that we need to get out of it, and then we start baling when it's a little bit softer in the evening so we're not losing the leaf. It's an inline baler, and it does a beautiful job. We've switched to this from the side pull because the hay bales that come out in the back of it tend to go through our Arcusin MultiPack a lot better than what we were getting for the side-pull baler. There's no place I'd rather be, actually, particularly on an evening like tonight, where, you know, you get to see a beautiful sunset. We live in a pretty special part of the world, I think, here in Marlborough. (SOFT MUSIC) - Caythorpe's built a reputation as producers of specialised equine hay. The smaller bales are popular with customers, as they're easier to handle and store. - People come from all over the place to buy our hay. - Steve Curtin and daughter Angela are regular buyers. - The horses like it... - The horses love it. - ....and they don't leave anything on the thing. Like, they eat it all. And you know, you smell it. (SNIFFS) You know, it's good, eh. - To see the finished product at the end where you're loading up trucks or horse floats, seeing people, you know, enjoy the fruits of your labour. (SOFT ROCK MUSIC) - Over at the packhouse, they're working to meet the Christmas rush. - SIMON: It's a very busy time of the year. Today, we've picked a little bit over 1000 kilos in the orchard ` so a little bit over a ton ` and everything that we pick in the morning, we process, and we pack in the afternoon. - The warmer Marlborough weather means Caythorpe cherries ripen a little ahead of Central Otago's. - Probably 95% of New Zealand's industry is based in Central Otago, so we're only very, very small compared to what happens down there. But we do have an advantage, because we are around about two to three weeks earlier than what Central Otago is, so we do have a little bit of a head start. And obviously, local market for Christmas, it's a traditional time to have cherries, so there's always incredibly strong demand. So it is quite nice that we do have that little piece of pie to ourselves, but roughly about 20%, we sell direct ourselves online; and the other 80%, we sell through wholesale market. They travel down into a sizer. Then they are sized into different grades from 24mm right up until 30mm-plus. - Today Scott's wife, Rachel, is lending a hand with the wholesale cherries. - There's 700g in here, so the girls are filling them up to weight and then sticking them here for me just to do, like, a final quality control check. Close up the punnet, put the stamp on. And then once we've got a full crate, we're on to the pallet. And once that's, I think, nine layers high, then it's off to the chiller. - The white boxes are our bespoke Caythorpe box. 2 kilos of premium Caythorpe cherries, so they're only 28mm and 30mm. They're largest cherry that we have and the best of the best. - And at this time of year, there's big demand for the corporate gift packs. Marie Peart's on packing today. - The recipients get two bottles of wine and 2 KG's of cherries. They're quite popular with a lot of businesses, especially around Christmas time. They'd like to send them to their clients. They fun to make up, and they're a really nice gift to receive. - Tomorrow morning, there'll be a large refrigerated truck that will turn up, and that will pick it up and then take it to market, wherever that might be. The last three days, I've sent consignments to Wellington, Palmerston North, Tauranga and Auckland. So it can go all over the country. - Spring and early summer are the busiest times for the hay and cherries, but there's still work happening in the vineyard. Today, they're using a defoliator to remove leaves from the vines. Farm manager Phil Balcombe is here to check on progress. - We want to let as much sun through the canopy as we can. So the more sun we got through, the, um, better penetration for spray, more sunlight, less disease. - Phil started packing cherries at Caythorpe as a student in the late '80s, and eight years ago, he came back as the farm manager. - Good guys to work for, just all-round top people, great family. We've done a pretty good job here. Like, the set-up's pretty good. As you can see, we've destroyed leaf through the bud zone. We want a nice little trail of leaves on the ground, and we want no damage. - With the Chardonnay picking up some pretty impressive awards lately, it bodes well for harvest time. VOICEOVER: Get your free 'Consumer's Guide to Hearing Aids', New Zealand's only independent guide to all the latest models. Choose the right hearing aid for your lifestyle and budget. Call 0800 45 45 42 for your free copy. (GENTLE ACOUSTIC MUSIC) - It's late March, and at Caythorpe Family Estate near Blenheim, the grape harvest is underway. - This is the first of our sav blanc coming off for the 2024 vintage ` pretty exciting. - Scott Bishell is on the early shift this morning. - This is all looking pretty good. Harvest is a 24-7 operation. It's basically the luck of the draw when you block is scheduled for the wineries. - Caythorpe developed its vineyard in the 1980s and expanded in the '90s when Marlborough's grape growing took off. They now have 150ha planted in five different varieties. And in true local form, the majority are in Sauvignon Blanc. - So a 6am start. Things are going pretty good at the moment, done a quick inspection with the harvester driver to make sure that the fruit is coming off nicely and not doing any damage to the canes, and it's looking really good. It's a very exciting time of the year for us. We finally get to see the rewards of all our good work over the year. As soon as this paddock of Sauvignon Blanc is picked, the harvesters head off to the Chardonnay block. Simon Bishell's the family viticulturist. - It's beautiful Chardonnay, Um, lovely and ripe, balanced acid. Ready to harvest. It's been a wonderful season this year for growing grapes. From late December, we've had very little rainfall. It's been hot, a lot of sunshine and also a lot of wind, a lot of the nor'west wind, which is Marlborough's best-kept secret. So that's perfect conditions for growing wonderful grapes and wines. - While most of the farm's grapes are contract grown for other winemakers, a big driver for the Bishells is adding value to the crops they send out the gate. So in 2015, they started making wines under their own label. - We're a multigenerational family, you know, farming family, and the sixth generation is here now. The idea was if we could add a wine business to that, selling our own wine, there's just more career opportunities for the next generation and the generation to come through after, should they choose to be involved in the business. - And there's been early success with the Chardonnay from this block. The 2021 vintage won Champion White Wine and Chardonnay at the New World Wine Awards last year. - We are a team effort here at Caythorpe, so, you know, for the whole team, it's been a huge accolade and just a nice confidence boost. - With the grapes on board, it's a short drive to Isabel Estate. - Hey, mate. - How are you? Good to see you, mate. - Caythorpe Estate's 2024 vintage will be crafted by winemaker Seb Bouchut. (FORKLIFT BEEPS) - What I'll do is, I'll get the guys to start loading, and then I'll go grab us a couple of glasses, and we can taste some of the juice coming out. - The grapes are loaded into the hopper for pressing. - My role's to turn this lovely juice into some beautiful wine. So I'll do my best to achieve that. - Hey, Seb, got some pressings? - Yeah, so here we go. Here we go again, mate. First Chardonnay 2024. - It's exciting. - Mm. They look good in the bin. - Nice nose. - Yeah, yeah. Lots of fruit there, lots of flavour. Mmm. What I like about this year this vintage is there the acid, the backbone's there. There's all that flavour and that concentration that's going to make a killer wine. - Their job just starts, mine's finished. - LAUGHS: Yeah. - Cheers to 2024. - Cheers. Yeah. Cracker. (TRANQUIL MUSIC) - This is a family and a business steeped in tradition. Simon and wife Sarah are the third generation to live in this house. - (SNICKERS) - Be silly to refuse. - Yeah. - My grandfather, when he built the house, he envisaged a billiard room. Oh, well played. - Nice. - And the Bishells are keen for wine to become part of Caythorpe's history. - Wouldn't have ever envisaged that we were making our own wine. Chardonnay has certainly come into its own. Very humbled to have two sons running the place there, and very proud; very, very proud of them. - Oh, great shot. - Good on ya. - We've had successive generations before us that have added to the farm, and now that we're running the farm, we'd like to stamp our mark on and take it to the next level as well. - We're basically trying to make Caythorpe the most appealing place to work as we possibly can to ensure that future generations wanna stay here and carry on the legacy, and also making an enjoyable place for our staff. - I feel really proud to have this opportunity to continue on the Bishell legacy here at Caythorpe. - Yeah, working hard is pretty easy when you're doing a place like this. - Next time ` - First and foremost, I'm a farmer. - she needed a job, and they needed a farmer. - We didn't have a farming background or know what we were doing. - It was a little scary at first. - We are what we eat. They will eat the best of it, trample the rest of it. - With the brothers' vision and her Kiwi knowhow, they've created their own Garden of Eden. That's next time on Hyundai Country calendar.