New Zealand -- Vintage

Hola,

 Here's some more action from my time in New Zealand so far. (the internet is on FIRE today -- Two posts in a day!) I touched down in Wellington -- Nice weather to arrive to NZ.

Here's one of a few snaps of the winery I was at.  We crush around 15,000 tons of fruit per year. Vintage was short -- roughly Mid-march to April 22nd.  Five weeks goes by quickly when you're working 72 hours per week (and many people worked way less than that!  Crazy.) -- particularly when the vintage in Washington can last for Eight or Ten weeks.

A few weeks into arriving here I moved from a hostel to a house that I now share with 7 other people, mostly from Estonia.  One of them shoots some pretty good photos in general, but also shoots for the local speedway.  Super Saloons like the one below can make between 1,500 and 2,000 bhp running on ethanol and they take corners up to 150 km's / hr.  So much fun to watch!

We have a good party house, which can be dangerous for the casual party-goer since the Estonians can do some drinking.

 You might ask -- "Tyler, are you on a giant vacation, or did you do ANY work at all?" I had to throw in some token winery snaps to prove I did in fact bust my ass.  A little bit.  I ran and managed the operation of five presses, often simultaneously, every day of work.  Being in this part of the vintage operation was actually highly preferable for me, considering my lack of experience in press work and my wealth of experience in pretty much every other part of winery operations.

Note the Kiona threads.

Kata was on my team.  She's German and always super happy even when her work ethic dwarfs yours. Take a lesson!

 Did you know the world's largest WWI Aircraft exhibit (supposedly) is in Blenheim (Me either.)?  Adjacent was also a pretty sweet car museum featuring mostly cars made on this side of the world.  And Jags, for obvious reasons.

The coolest part -- The crash of the Red Baron and every piece of history behind him that you could ever wish for.

Drool.

So, here's a story.  My brother, JJ (who is, for lack of a better term and for those who don't know, the Director of Sales at Kiona), who was across the state in Seattle at a trade event (Taste WA!), was enjoying a drink at a bar after the event with some friends and associated mutual company.  Lo and behold, JJ ended up getting into some small talk with a fellow from western Washington.  Who also has a brother my age.  Who is also working in New Zealand.  In the same town.  At the same winery. In the same quarter of the winery.  On the same shift.  As me. Max is a clown and provides some good company to most! Here's the man of the hour, along with his main squeeze -- Lauren -- Also from Washington.

Max and I swooping to the harvest party at the horse races. Estonian congregation in the rear.

'Stache and Fanny. And beer.

When you're lucky enough to meet so many people sharing a passion in the same profession, a lot of times you'll meet someone whose family farms, makes wine, or both.  The story behind this bottle is funny.  Victor, whose family owns this winery from Champagne (SO GOOD), is also friends (and went to school with) Nico, who worked with me during my last vintage at Maryhill in Washington.  Nico also did the NZ vintage here in Blenheim.  Though Nico and I were at different wineries, Victor was at my winery.  Thanks for the treat, mate.

And a few last snaps from Blenheim.

I leave on a 27-day tour around essentially every major part of New Zealand next week.  Keep your eyes peeled and check back in due time.

Cheers!

TW