('COUNTRY CALENDAR' THEME) - (WHISTLES) - Always a favourite on every rural road... (DOG BARKS) (HORN TOOTS) - They're family winemakers harvesting by the moon. - You can see we've got fantastic weather. It's all about the flavour. I can just look at the grapes, and I can just see what a fantastic vintage this has been. Captions by Tom Clarke. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2024 (HIGH-SPIRITED MUSIC) - Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Churton again. We're picking our best fruit. We just want attention to detail. No leaves. We can't make wine out of leaves. - It's autumn and harvest time at the Churton Vineyard in Marlborough. - Today we've got our Thai crew. Some of these guys have been coming here picking for the past five years or more. They're really cool to work with. They're good fun, and they know what they're doing. (MAN SHOUTS IN THAI) - As the pickers get into their day, vineyard owner and winemaker Sam Weaver and his son, Ben, are looking over what is yet to be picked in their prized Pinot block. - So this is looking pretty good too, mate. - I think we should probably look at picking this pretty soon. - Ben has worked alongside Sam since he was a schoolboy. It's his job to oversee the logistics of picking and processing during vintage. - Looking at these bunches, what everybody else has been saying they've had poor bunches at, we've had fantastic. - Yeah, I think we're just lucky where we are and with the timing of flowering. - Yeah. - We tend to think along the same lines. However, there is` you know, there's often times when we might not necessarily agree 100% on something. But at the end of the day, we want the same result. - We should pick it. - We will pick up. - Churton is an organic vineyard which relies on biodynamic growing principles. Sam says nature always wins out when the time comes to harvest their grapes. - It's all about the flavour ` and actually looking at the colour, we're having a fantastic year this year. What we're looking at is the texture and the tannins. So what I'll do is I'll... I'll take a few berries and I'll taste them, and I have a look at the pips. Pips are really nice and brown, so that means the tannins are getting nice and mature. As I press it between my fingers, it's releasing some really nice colour. To me, that's a perfect grape ` Pinot grape, pine cone shape. (SOFT PIANO MUSIC) - Nothing is left to chance at harvest. Sam even consults the stars and the moon to help support his decisions about when to pick. - You can get very mystical about it, but in actual fact, if you just think of it as a farmer's almanac, it's a way of helping you plan. Actually, months ago, I marked in my calendar the 22nd and 23rd of March as being really good days for picking. So the moon is in the constellation of Leo, which is a fruit sign. You can see we've got fantastic weather, you've got high pressure, and all of that is actually influencing the vine. So you've got the high pressure is pulling things up into the vine. It's helping the flavour. For me, making wine is all about personality. So everything we do in our farming philosophy and our routines is trying to make the best of the place and get the best expression, and that's down to the mixed herbage that we've got, the fact that we've got deep-rooted vines, we don't use synthetic chemicals, and that's expressed in the flavour of the fruit, in the complexity of the fruit. - Is that gonna be enough baskets? - Yeah. Just stretch them out if we have to. - As one of the next generation of winemakers at Churton, Ben enjoys balancing science with Sam's old-school thinking. - I think it's crucial for what we're trying to achieve, not only in the vineyard and on the land, but also the wines that we're producing are wines that really speak true of a place. And in order for that to happen, there needs to be minimal inputs outside of what we've got naturally available. So for me, biodynamics and organics is very crucial to what we're doing. Oh, the bees are getting into it. - For the last couple of years, the Weavers have called in some extra help at harvest time ` a couple of Ben's old school mates are here to lighten the load. - We've known each other since we were 5 years old. So, Paddy lives just down the road and does the beehives in the vineyard, and Jared's always been a good mate. - It's looking good ` good clean fruit. Eyes to the front. - Thank you. Patrick, I'll just try not to crash. - It's lovely having, you know, those guys who you can just call on when you need a hand, and they're more than willing, and they love it, cos it's a great time of year and it's fun. - Jared said he wanted you to go a bit faster. He wasn't sweating enough. - They just bring you back to Earth, you know, whether that's giving each other a bit of stick or whatever it is. It just kind of keeps you grounded, makes everything a bit smoother ` and a bit more enjoyable Are we full? - One more. (GENTLE MUSIC) - As the harvest continues, Sam is collecting ingredients for an important part of their wine making process. - Because we're using our own flora, and the bees have been hunting around on the fruit and they've been foraging in the flowers, we're gathering it all together, and it's just making this nice unity. Paddy, all I'm looking for is really just a bit of wax. I don't care whether they have honey in it. Just a little bit there'd be fantastic, cos I'm just looking for a inoculum for my starter culture. - We'll leave the honey for the girls, eh? - Yeah, that's absolutely perfect. - Jolly good. - Beekeeper Paddy Dawkins often helps Sam with his foraging missions around the vineyard. - Can I try that, honey? - Try a little bit, Sam. I'll crack it open. Dip your finger in there. All right, we'll shut her up then. - Thanks, Pad. (SQUELCHING) I'm making what we call pied de cuve. It's the French term for 'base of the tank'. We do this because we're so focused on the personality of this place. so what we want to do is get a starter culture going of our indigenous yeast. - The natural yeast is used in much the same way as a sourdough starter ` to ferment the grape juice into wine. - Once we've got this fermenting really well, we'll take this into the winery and we'll use it as our starter culture at the bottom of the tank, at the pie de cuve, and it'll create our own unique fermentation, which will give us another expression of this place as the flavour evolves in the wine. - Today's harvest has given Sam and Ben an embarrassment of riches. The grapes from Abyss, their premium Pinot block, not only look good, there are lots of them. It's the reward for all their hard work in the vineyard over the last year. - Originally booked in for 3.5 ton, which was our perfect ferment size, but we're probably gonna be closer to six, so we're having to quickly scramble and get another tank ready. I was mentally prepared to come in under, so to have the crop how it is, both for quality and quantity, it's incredibly pleasing. - Bloody beauty. Off the vine nice and safely, into the winery, and the next chapter begins. 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) - The first grapes from the Churton Vineyard in Marlborough's Waihopai Valley are on their way to the winery. (MUSIC CONTINUES) Ben Weaver is delivering them in person. - Everyone thinks that harvest is a stressful and busy time, but in actual fact, it's, I guess, a bit more of a celebration. Getting to this point and taking the fruit in end is a bit of a weight off. - The fruit's being processed at local winery Mahi, and Ben's father, Sam Weaver, is rapt with the look of their Pinot crop. - Abyss has outperformed itself this year. It also just seems to produce fruit with more depth. - The arrangement with Mahi gives Sam and Ben the freedom to produce their own style of wine and carefully oversee their grapes from the vineyard to the bottle. - You've worked so hard for such a long period of time. You don't necessarily want to relinquish control over the process, and we wanna make sure that we're there for every step of the journey. The fruit's really clean. It's actually coming out of the destemmer really well, so we're getting lots of whole berries, but we're just seeing the odd stem kind of shattering through the destemmer. So we just want to get rid of as many of those as we possibly can. Stylistically, for us, we're very much focused on pure fruit and skin tannin. We're very hands-on when it comes to what we're trying to do and what we're trying to achieve, and it helps with the whole camaraderie and the celebration of it all. - Sam carved out a career in the London wine industry before coming to New Zealand. He knows exactly what he's looking for. - I'm seeing fantastic grapes. I'm also keeping an eye open for something like that, which is a bit shrivelled. Something like this, which we call mog ` material other than grapes. We're making sure they're mostly black grapes. You see, that one's a little bit red, so we'll get rid of that. You know, it's not often you get a concurrence of quality and quantity. It'd be, I don't know, one in 15 years, this. That's the prerequisite for a great vintage, because it means everything ripens at once, and that bunch is the same as this one. It's perfect, perfect. - Back home, the bountiful supply of fruit continues. Sam's wife, Mandy, helps in the vineyard at harvest time. - Very nice. Thank you. - No worries. Next one? I think there's so much anticipation, and you want things to go so, so well. And then when it's done, and there's that lovely sense of satisfaction ` the boys, obviously, they now have to do the winemaking ` but, um, from a vineyard point of view, it's like, 'Well done, vines. You've done your job,' and they can just relax. They change colour now. We'll go into autumn colours. - It's amazing. As soon as you pick grapes from a block, you can just almost see the block sighing... - Yeah. - ...and the leaves change, and it's like time to start relaxing and chill out for a little while. - Sam and Mandy originally came to New Zealand 35 years ago to explore Sam's Kiwi connections, as three of his grandparents were born here. Since putting down roots, they've put their heart and soul into the venture. - There's a lot of emotion involved in in. You know, we've gone through really tough times. 10 years ago now, we had a hailstorm come through here, and we lost... - All our Pinot. - ...50% of our vintage in 10 minutes. That sort of thing, it's very stressful, but it actually brings things together as well. So when you have a vintage like this, you think, 'My God, you know, we've worked so hard and then we've achieved something.' - Mm. - Sorry. I'm quite emotional. (SIGHS) - (CHUCKLES) You've done well. - Mandy was hands-on in the vineyard in the early days, but stepped back a bit when they decided to make room for the next generation. - A small family business really can only support so many people, so Mum had to get a job. I actually had to go to Wellington for the first year and work Monday to Friday. And, I have to say, every Saturday morning I'd walk up to the vineyard, I'd pick flowers, even if they were dead, and just wander the rows and just breathe it in. - Mandy's back working a bit closer to home these days and loves to see her family legacy flourish. - Ben and Sam, they'll see work very often when they're walking through. I don't. I just enjoy it for what it is. - Churton is in the Waihopai Valley, southwest of Blenheim. Sam and Mandy found the parcel of bare land when they were looking to create their own history and connection to the region. - I walked. I just kept on walking and just got a feeling for the land. You know, it's really important to understand the shape and the different temperatures. For instance, down in the bottom, it's cool; but on the slopes, it's warm. You know, there were certain really obvious areas, like all these lovely east-facing slopes. That's where we initially focused. And then it was how do we fit vines into the different aspects and different slopes? Because it's not all east-facing. So it was a question of how do we fit a sort of a jigsaw together to make the best use of the land and to get the best personality from those individual parcels? - The result was a vineyard that closely follows the contours of the land. But it wasn't until he sketched out the plantings that Sam noticed a curious outcome. - It's just quite a small vineyard in area terms ` it's only 23ha ` but we've got 17 different blocks in it, because we're making use of all these different folds and different aspects, and they're all in different orientations as well. Having drawn this out, this northern side of the vineyard, well, it looked like a side of beef to me. We named them after cuts of meat. So we've got topside, rump, loin, flank, brisket, neck, and blade. Voila. (CHUCKLES) - And soon it'll be time for a verdict on this year's vintage. - It's pretty fruity. (BIRDS CHIRP, COWS MOO) - It's the best time in the vineyard, cos the vineyard sort of relaxing. It's like it's done all of its work. It's breathing out, and it's just peaceful. As soon as they see me putting fencing gear out, they get excited because they know they're about to move. (COWS MOO) - Marlborough vintner Sam Weaver doesn't just grow grapes on Churton Vineyard. He also raises a mob of Red Devon beef cattle. And every autumn, they're turned out of their paddocks to roam the vineyard. - Cattle are really important for the overall farming system that we have. They'll come into a block, they'll gallop around it, and they'll have a look, and then they'll choose which ones they want to eat. And there's something warm about cattle ` the size of them and they're slow and they're friendly, and so you've got this wonderful warmth coming into the vineyard. (CHEERFUL MUSIC) - It's exactly a month since the first of the Pinot grapes were picked at Churton. Sam and Ben Weaver have been sampling the juice from their grapes every day since harvest to decide which tank to press first. - I'm happy with that. - I'd like to retain freshness... - Yeah. - ...and I don't really want to extract too much from it, because I think it would be quite a nice, soft, fresh component. Through the tasting process, we're formulating not necessarily an argument, but our discussion points with regards to what we feel is probably the best decision. - You've got a wine which has got lots of density and lots of concentration, and it's got more evenness on the palate. The softer wine wins out today ` it's the obvious one to press. - Sam has pressed wine every year he's been in New Zealand, and today, he's digging out the tanks once more. - Oh, I've got different coloured socks on. It's the best job in the vintage. It's the culmination of, you know, you've made that picking decision and you've made your pressing decision, the wine is more or less finished, and it's got that level of satisfaction. You jump into the tank, and you've got all the aromas of the skins and the alcohol. It's a great process. You expend a bit of energy, and it's fantastic. It's a bit squelchy, but yeah, no, I actually really like it. I can just look at the grapes and I can just see what a fantastic vintage this has been because of the evenness of colour throughout all the grapes and how well the colour has been released. Yeah, it's just lovely. - It's a father-and-son effort. - You know, it's good to get in, get a bit puffed, a bit dirty and just, you know, enjoy it. It's kind of like job done, and now it can sort of safely go into a barrel and do its thing over the next few months. Symbolic of basically vintage '24 come to a close. So it's nice. (SMOOTH ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC) - All around the vineyard, there are signs there's a plan to everything Sam and Ben do on the property to create their taste of the land. (HORN TOOTS) This morning, there are a couple of jobs to be done before the vintner can have lunch. (HORN TOOTS) - We've got a substantial bird population, but (TOOTS HORN) they do happen to be a bit of a pest at this time of year. Rather than netting the whole vineyard, we just move them along so that they don't settle in one place and start feasting on our fruit. - During autumn, Sam buries cow horns to create new microbiology to spread across the vineyard. It's a ritual he firmly believes makes a difference to the health of the vines. - I'm a microbiologist, so I think of these things in terms of microbiology. What we've got is an extremely nutrient-dense medium ` as in the cow dung ` in a porous vessel, and it spends the winter going through microbial evolution. In the spring, when we dig it up, what we've got is this fantastic, um, microbial culture which has been acclimatised to all of our soil, and then we use that as a stimulant. So we just inoculate our land with more microbes. Biodynamics challenges people, because you've got, in some respects, a belief system, but what's really interesting is that modern science is catching up with biodynamics. This is sort of more or less the centre of the whole property. What we want is a nice, warm, damp soil. It just to encourage the microbes growing. What I see is the real strength of biodynamics is that it accepts and works with science, but it also brings in emotion. Farming by force has to be an activity that you care about and that you have to be emotionally involved in, and that's where having some spiritual grounding actually is really quite helpful. - With the autumn tasks complete, there's time to thank the harvest crew and celebrate the promise of the new vintage. - The whole essence is that we're not just growing vines; we're growing wine. How many industries have the ability to start from scratch ` grow your grapes, produce your wine, and then take it to the market and tell the story all the way through? That's just fantastic. Thanks for all your help. One out of the box for Churton Thank you. - ALL: Cheers. - Cheers, Dad. Cheers, mate. - Next time ` their love of the sea and birds led to a business. - Lovely deep brown mahogany. - Gently does it. Hello, darlings. - I like all birds, but the big birds are just stunning. - It's going to help us to live our dream of getting off the land and going sailing. - That's next time on Hyundai Country Calendar.