It is May.  We have had April

and I am glad.

Things are slowing down; and I don’t think I fully realised how busy I have been over the last three months or so until now, when I find myself with more flaffing about time!

The markets have been amazing, so much support and encouraging comments have made me feel that I’m def on the right track, and if it weren’t those.. the sales could be speaking for themselves… I have almost sold out of all my stock!!

So I have one last market this Mother’s day weekend at Eketāhuna Super Market, with very limited stock.

In August I will have a couple of new wines coming out then a new one every month thereafter.  So I will slowly integrate myself back into the market scene from then; Eketāhuna, Hokowhitu, Woodville, Greytown, Cult Wine…

When I first started this venture, I had confidence in my wines but to be honest, I didn’t have a lot of confidence in the NZ palate to appreciate my wines in what is a grape heavy country.  So I kept to very small quantities to test the consumers tastes as such.

I have been pleasantly surprised with how many people have been excited to find something else to tingle their taste buds that is not the status quo, and with how many people that have been pleasantly surprised by something they didn’t expect to tingle their taste buds full stop.  So fun!

So with my first year under my belt it’s time to get a bit more onto it and up my quantities, and trust that people trust what I come up with and are willing to try whatever I come up with!  Unfortunately, it is all easier said than done and I can’t just go ‘bang’ I’m making 500 litre quantities of said wine because people like it.  

Reality is, is that I’m pretty much inadvertently sticking to my business plan and doubling my quantities each year, meaning next season I will be making 100 litres of some wines, which will be a max.  

Commercial winemakers would be laughing their arses off reading that, hell, there will be some home winemakers guffawing at that.  

Slightly embarrassing, but hey, I’m owning it.  This is me.  Creating a catalyst.

Most wines are now on their aging process, hence me not being so busy.  Just a few more wines to do over the next couple of months.  I’m going to do a feijoa wine.  I’ve been resistant to doing one because past ones haven’t been incredibly successful (to/for me) and I’m not a huge fan of feijoa wine despite being brought up on a feijoa orchard (Nelson)!  

Passionfruit and golden plum wine (the plums are frozen waiting for the passionfruits to ripen), and Lemon wine for later.

Few experimental wines are waiting in the wings; Tomato (I did a small batch last month, it’s so promising I’m going to do a bigger batch this month before the season ends here) Coffee and Vanilla wine,  crab apple, carrot and yellow capsicum (based on a juice recipe), and damson wine with feijoa flowers (all waiting in the freezer).

As a heads up, I’m in the process of changing couriers.  Unfortunately Aramex has been having a few too any accidents for my liking, so hoping Post Haste will be a bit more careful and fingers crossed I can lower postage prices.. I know you all understand that postage (and packaging) costs are a part of life these days and I so appreciate those willing to pay them, but just so you know, it breaks a tiny piece of my heart having to charge for them!

So happy mama’s day to all those that identify with that role, I hope you get appreciated without too much prompting and know your own worth… which is OMG; where would civilisation be without a bit of mothering; love without limits my people!!

xoxoxooxo

SandRa

P.S.  In the ensuing quiet months I’ll take some time to explain why I spell my name the way I do and why Catalyst is catalyst (it goes deeper than you think!)