The Journey, Getting Feedback..

The Journey, Getting Feedback..

The month of June was a month of highs and lows…

The major high of the month was that Catalyst finally had its first tasting event - right here in Eketāhuna-. I had nine willing guinea pigs from all walks of life and we had a blast. Everyone was open minded about what they were tasting, they were engaged, honest with their opinions (the good and the bad!) and gave me some great feedback…

The Blackberry + Elder (Oaked) was the all out winner, along with Ruby Tuesday, a fortified Spiced Plum Wine. Out of the ‘whites’, Ginger + Hops (Hip Hop Gingsta’) was possibly the fave, or was it the surprise of the Marrow Wine (Who Woulda’ Thought)? Maybe a tie!

It was discovered that the citrus wines (Grapefruit + Oregano and Citrus) were nice made into spritzers with soda water. Overseas, fruit wines are often used in cocktails or as mixers. Time to catch up NZ!

The couple of lows for June were personal lows; the family and I were sick with the cold then the flu for a couple of weeks (learnt that there really is no way on earth that you could be a winemaker without a sense of smell or taste!). And June was the month that our magpies, Doom and Gloom, finally flew from the ‘nest’ and are living independent lives somewhere else, bloomin’ characters they were and part of the family for eight months. I’ll miss them but hopefully they’ll visit.

New Zealand magpie, pet magpie, Doom

New wines started this month; Passionfruit + Golden Plum, another Lemon Wine and a wee Sour Cherry Wine. I’ve ordered a sour cherry tree to plant this winter so wanted to check it was/is a good tree choice. Tart fruits do make good fruit wine!

Sour Cherry Wine

Hope this newsletter finds you warm and healthy!

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