Becky Gets Muddy (Middlemarch-ish)

During our stay in Amberley, I had the opportunity on several occasions to work with Belinda at the Muddy Water winery when the workload required extra hands. Although I’m usually known as Andrew’s designated beer buddy, it provided an interesting chance to branch out and experience the finer side of alcohol production.

My task in my first trip to Muddy Water (interestingly, it’s the English translation of Waipara, the area in which the wine is produced) was to help in the labeling and “noodling” of the wine bottles for a large overseas shipment to the U.S. Overseas wine bottles contain all the additional warnings and nutrition information required by the country in which it will be sold. The labels for the States are especially wordy, as we must read a mile-long disclaimer before being allowed to consume an alcoholic beverage. The upshot is that we can’t say we weren’t warned about operating a bulldozer under the influence of a crisp Sauvignon Blanc.

A view of the winery

Helpfully, Kieran brought in his nifty labeling machine from the brewery (just one of the benefits of having a brewer and a winemaker in the same family!), so while the rest of the winery staff laboriously hand-applied labels, I zipped through a couple hundred bottles with ease with his fantabulous contraption. At the same time, the bottles also require “noodles,” a strip of gray adhesive (they’re only shaped like a noodle; they definitely don’t taste like one) placed over the top of the screw cap. As an aside, unbound by antiquated traditions, most NZ wineries have gone over to screw caps instead of corks, which I fully support. Although the noodle strip can be, and usually is, claimed by the pro-noodle faction to function as an anti-tampering device, word round the campfire suspects that they’re mostly used because management likes the noodle-rific aesthetics.

I’ll reserve further comment, as noodles are an unexpectedly controversial issue at MW. But…when one calculates the man hours required to put little strips of adhesive on each bottle to go through the winery, one wonders whether the whole enterprise is really worth it? Obviously someone above my pay grade thinks so, so my first day at the winery was chock full of oodles of noodles, as it were.

Payment that first day came in the form of two bottles of wine: the 2004 and 2005 vintages of Muddy Water’s pinot noir, given for comparative purposes. Verdict: they both taste like wine! OK I’m mostly kidding. For the 2005 version, diagnosis: delicious! As for the 2004 version, we also thought it was good until Belinda told us it had a bit of sulfur character, at which point we were convinced we could discern it as well. We must say it was nice of her to give us the unvarnished scoop, as she probably could’ve convinced us it tasted like anything, given our knowledge of wine. All in all, the bottles of wine were a great bonus, as I considered this to be just another day in the life of a WWOOFer, no payment necessary. Jane, if you happen to be reading this post, and are still reading even after all the talk of pro-noodle factions, we’ve already drank the wine, so we can’t give it back at this point, sorry!

Work at the winery isn’t all noodles and labels, however. I also had the opportunity to work for a few days harvesting grapes (my first stint as a migrant laborer!). The grapes came in a bit riper than expected for this time of the season, so the harvest kicked into full swing earlier than anticipated. Belinda asked if I wouldn’t mind picking some grapes, and I decided that it would be a great idea, even with the 6:30 AM start time. Early in the morning is the best time to be out in the vineyard anyway, before the sun is really up and while the air is still cool.

Grape picking is just as you would imagine it to be – fairly tedious and a touch back-breaking. It’s just hard to be bent over for that many hours of the day. I’m really impressed by people who work for the whole harvest, although I like to imagine that I would have worked my way into “picking shape” before too long.

Rows of grapes just waiting to be picked!

On the plus side, working outside is enjoyable, and you do get a fair amount of satisfaction out of filling your bucket with grapes. And after months of unemployment, a few extra dollars going into the wallet was a nice change of direction, fiscally speaking. I was almost tempted to stay on for the rest of the harvest, as we’d really been enjoying our time in Amberley, but figured that long-term fruit picking probably wasn’t for me, and truth be told, wasn’t too eager to find out. Which is funny because I really did enjoy all the time I spent working in the garden the last few weeks (mostly weeding). On the other hand, gardening does provide a variety of tasks, as opposed to the monotony of grape picking.

Another photo of the newly weeded garden

In the end, I really enjoyed the time that I got to spend at the winery. Our travels are always pretty beer-intensive, so it was fun to learn about winemaking for a change. And it seems that our time enjoying quality wines at Kieran and Belinda’s is already paying shocking dividends, in that Andrew and I might have actually started to develop some sort of wine palate! To wit: we bought a cheapo NZ$7 bottle of wine to drink with our pasta dinner during our first night back at a hostel (mostly to console ourselves on leaving after a few great weeks). After the initial sips, we simultaneously wrinkled our noses. Apparently, the cheap stuff just won’t do anymore. As such, we’re looking forward to enjoying the bottle of wine we were generously given for our efforts at the Waipara Wine & Food Festival – Muddy Water’s most fabulous (read: expensive) wine, the Mojo Pinot Noir. A great gift, we’ll enjoy it while celebrating my upcoming birthday.