Clearly the wine of choice for Odysseus and the love of his life Penelope, you too can enjoy the

Homer Sparking Rose!

Nosh have a Special deal on  the Homer Sparkling Rose this week …  Happy Valentining!

Thanks for all the nice comments re the Viva comment in todays Herald about The Reserve Iliad Gisborne Chardonnay 2010 , great to appreciate individual wines for what they are…expressions of their own terroir. The Iliad is available in lots of good Auckland stores try Liquorland Newmarket, La Barrique, Bacchus Upland, Point Wines, Artisan Wines, A to Z, Kohi Corner , Caros, Wine Vault, Fine Wine Delivery Company, Glengarry Ellerslie, Ponsonby and Westmere., or contact us if you having problems locating. Cheers and enjoy those wild yeasts!

One of the best jobs back from the holidays is check  the vineyards to see how everything is developing. This week in Gisborne the sun was shining and it  looks like a great year for Hen and Chickens in our Chardonnay grapes. The flavour comes from the skin so with all the little chickens we will get more intensely flavoured berries. Fingers crossed the good summer in Gisborne continues!!

Michael Cooper has just rated the Odyssey Marlborough Pinot Noir 2009 with 4.5 stars, (says it’s the best yet from Odyssey). We can vouch it is awesome with lamb and especially a lamb curry… try the Jamie Oliver “Peters Lamb curry’. The 2009 vintage was long and slow ripening and the wine has really uplifted fragrant tones with soft tannins perfect with a spicey lamb dish.

Fatu Feu’u has done some sculptures on the Odyssey Vineyard in Marlborough ( he uses it as his south island studio in summer and has just written us this very cool poem about the sculptures he has done)…

OH! Orongo, you are god of the wind
So great powerful and fair
Please grant me my wish
I have no time to spare
My sister Sina is dying up in the sky.
The moon is her home, too cold for her bones.
Please hurry we must rescue her from her fate,
Bring her back to earth where its warm and safe.
Alas! The great god of the wind knelt down to propose
Come now pretty Tapuitea
First we hongi on the nose,
Consume the last harvest of Odyssey wines,
then ascending the stairs of mountains and vines.

I hope you like this. Cheers,

Fatu Feuu

Odyssey Wines is sponsoring the Eat Here Now restaurant review on bFM on Friday mornings on Charlotte Ryan’s Morning Glory show. Some great ideas for eateries and she has bottles to give away so listen in and hopefully pick up a free bottle!

1. 
2. This summer we released for the first time a Sparkling Rose under the Homer label. We did it for a bit of fun and clearly it seems to have hit the spot! Very popular ….(so much so, we are doing another bottling.)

Strawberry and fruity on the nose with a dash of sweetness to make the bubbles soft and smooth it’s a classic, serve it chilled its great out in the sun on the deck. Its bottled with the zork cork so it can be resealed if you don’t drink it all ( not much chance of that)  great for picnics….

Nosh stores have it, as well as Wine vault, Blend, Bacchus upland…

We made it through November with no frosts! The guys have been busy shoot thining, mowing and putting organic sprays like seaweed on to get the vine pumping for the summer months. The buckwheat has been planted and when that flowers it will attract the wasps who kill the little bugs who weave webs in the middle of the grapes… that can cause major damage later on – Biological control in action!