Motts Landing Vineyard

Our store is now closed

We will be attending the

following markets & shows-

Rhoda's Christmas Market (Harbor Station)

Nov 18, 19 & 20

Christmas in the Village In Gagetown

Nov 26 & 27

Fredericton Arts & Crafts Show

Dec 2, 3 & 4

Well, here we are officially into summer: I thought that I should take the time to remind you of that fact since it is quite difficult to tell from the weather that we have been having.

The vineyard despite this cool and wet start is doing very well but a lot of that has to do with the fact that Katherine Stirling a student of the Truro Agriculture College, daughter of Brenda and Blair Stirling of the Gagetown Cider Company, has agreed to work for us this summer. Because of this we have been able to catch up with our plans for this year, at least so far; and the vines like the attention she has been giving them. We will get things like leaf pruning and cluster thinning to mention a few, done at the appropriate time which makes all the difference.

We have a new look to our labels this year; a bit of a shine on them and we also have few new exciting products this year. We have a limited supply of a Muscat wine, a new house white and a Late Harvest wine made from our Frontenac Gris. We have also decided to release the Cranpagne at this time because so many of you have been asking for it. The reds are now two years old and this has been our goal to get them this old before they are sold.

As of July 2 we have some vines in the berry set stage and others just flowering, pollination will be over soon. We have replaced the Marechal Foch and Joffre with Sabrevois, kept the Leon Millot as it is still hanging in there, planted some Baltica and Marquette for red wine production. For the whites we have planted more Louise Swenson, kept the L’Acadie which is loaded, transplanted the ES10-18-30, reclaimed the Van Cliché from the untamed portion of the vineyard to uncover a phenomenal amount of potential fruit and planted in the experiment bed a new Van Cliché, La Crescent and ES2-3-17’s we got cuttings from Allan Hudson vineyard up in Mundleville at the Richibucto River Wine Estates; check it out! http://www.richibuctoriverwineestate.com/

For the summer we already have a few events planned, the first will be Life @ the Lakes celebration with the Washademoak Region Chamber of Commerce and the Queens County Heritage Society on the weekend of August the 6&7^th. Our wines will be highlighted at the Restaurant “Savour” in Saint Andrews the weekend of NB Indulge October the 14-16^th and also doing tastings at the Kingsbrae Gardens. Sonia will be doing a presentation to a women’s league in September and we have several tours booked already this year.

Did I mention that our Cranpagne is now the Ale House in Saint John after we had a very entertaining visit from Peter, Jessie and Todd; owner, chef and manager of this establishment. http://www.saintjohnalehouse.com/

Doug Watling was kind enough to come over again this year to taste our wine and write tasting notes. Thank You, Doug.

Gee we miss Ian, but we will get the information out there on the web soon. We are not sure but rumour has it that he was last seen windsurfing.

2010 was truly a fabulous year! That just about sums it up! The highlights; starting off with a great mild winter and hence a good start for the vineyard, great customer support, grape cluster signs along route 715, being found by the yacthies, and a wonderfully abundant harvest.

2011 has all the makings of yet another record year for MLV. Sonia has an even more interesting selection of wines for you to experience along with a sensational desert wine that was this winters experiment with something new.

We are planning on streamlining things in the winery this year with no new additions with the exception of stainless fittings and dedicated tubing. The vineyard always under some form of transformation will see the introduction of several new experimental vines as well as the replacement of the Marechal Joffre with the Sabrevois which is the base for our House Montage that will be released this coming season as it has spent a good year in the oak barrels and now rests in the bottle for your pleasure.

We will be putting in two new moorings along the water front of the farm to accommodate our new guests from the Yacht clubs. We will post GPS coordinates and erect a sign on the shore to help with locating the path leading up to the winery. Of course you will also see Whisper; our own 22 foot Tanzer, parked out front as well! Some work will hopefully happen closer to the water for a picnic site as well.

I am certain there is more but it will come out in the news letter in the spring when we return from our work in NZ and post our opening dates for the store. We are hoping for the long weekend in May.

Who is the guy in the picture! Why that’s Ian Varty! It has been his talent and wit that has brought the charming personality of the website to the forefront. We have received so many positive comments about the site and cannot take any credit for its appearance or personality, as Ian has selflessly volunteered to handle all that creativity. If any of you had read his blog or visited his photo website you would understand how much talent is wrapped up in just one person!

Did I mention the labels! Yes that’s correct they were a team effort, but predominantly Ian’s doing! The Logo: Ian. The business cards: Ian.

All that being said he will no longer be working on the website but diverting or is that inverting, his energies towards what looks like down under; but actually he will be hanging around with his wife Wendy, the Lake Diva, who is constantly on tour, pursuing his music and following the wind, as he is an avid windsurfer (so much so that he is totally unavailable when the wind is greater than 40kph). His perspective upside-down as it is will be felt for years to come as he is still in the neighbourhood and a good friend.

It just simply doesn’t seem to be enough to say thank you to Ian for all that he has done for us, so Sonia and I are presenting him with a lifetime position as skip at the MLV Annual Bonspiel.

Yes that is correct, the fizz is back!

Also, we will have more Frontenac for your enjoyment within a fortnight. Also, we have released two new fruit wines: a Raspberry; we call it “Razzberry” and a Sour Cherry. Doug has also included tasting notes for these as well and I must add that I had the Razzberry with a chocolate desert! Magnificent!

What a year we have been having thanks not only to your support but to the kind hand of Mother Nature herself: up until the time of writing, that is!

The vines are growing at an alarming rate, the pollination was good in all but one variety and it rained during so it is producing just an average fruit set where all the others are full on and we are hoping for a wonderful crop as far as the chemistry and wine making goes! This has all the potential of a record year!

We are at the moment just finished hedging and leaf pruning; soon to step right into cluster thinning and then the nets, to give the grapes every possibility to turn out their best!

We purchased a new variable speed pump this past week and already are thinking that it too will yet again help us on the path of even better wines. New barrels will be arriving this month in anticipation of more reds to age for your enjoyment. Sonia has also done our first contract job on wine making for some raspberry growers up north and has our Cranpagne well on its way to the bottle for its release in October in time for Thanks giving and Christmas.

Just as reminder we have the Visa/MasterCard and Debit machine available now in our store and you will probably notice the symbols on our home page to make that fact more visible. It was pointed out to us by a regular customer, that we hadn’t made this change very clear in our last update. We welcome the feedback!

Sonia and I were just commenting where this grape growing and wine making has taken us; who we have met and where we have been this year. As an example last week was a busy one as we worked by day in the vineyard and by night we drove once; to Saint John to attend a Sauvignon Blanc tasting conducted by none other than New Brunnies own sommelier, Craig Pinhey, www.frogspad.ca at a really fabulous venue—The Happinez Wine Bar— www.happinezwinebar.com - a creation of and hosted by wine enthusiast Peter Smit ; then we drove to Memramcook, the following evening, to a BBQ hosted by Robert Bourgeois of Belliveau Orchards www.vergerbelliveauorchards.ca to meet with Alain Breault a grapevine nurseryman from Quebec, to listen to the latest in developing varieties and talk shop about our present day ones! Roger Tremblay of the Ministry of Agriculture also attended with information on some existing provincial government programs of interest to grape growers in NB. Most of New Brunswick’s twelve cottage wineries were present along with their wines; so needless to say a good time was had by all. Check out www.nbgrape.ca

Two weeks prior Sonia and I delivered some of our wines to much talked about Savours restaurant in St. Andrews. Here Alex Haun and his wife Jennie work miracles with a lot of local produce. We have heard nothing but rave reviews about the place and if trying to get a reservation is any indication of the satisfaction of the patrons: then there are a lot of happy dinners out there!

Not only has the wine been taking us places but the wine itself is going top all kinds of destinations that we too would like to see. So far this summer it has found its way to Lima Peru, Margaret River in Western Australia, Shanghai China, Oregon, Texas, New Hampshire, Maine, Ontario, Quebec, Prince George B.C., Cambridge England and Rome Italy. All we can say, asides from thanks to all who visited and wanted to take MLV wines back to their homes; is thank goodness we aren’t allowed to export our products overseas; it may alarm the big boys in the industry!

Well, that’s about where we are now: the rush of the crush, is looming, the days are getting shorter and the kids are just about headed back to school! Where has the year gone? When we finally get a summer that is worth enjoying and it goes by too quickly!

Sonia and I look forward to seeing many of you again this year. The rosé is down to its last case, the first release of Frontenac is also gone with the next barrels are being emptied and bottled in few weeks, the Summer Solstice and Chantilly Blush have been very popular and the Marechal Foch is coming into its own!

Remember to drink responsibly! Always have a designated driver for those summer parties!

PS. What am I thinking? One of the reasons for the news letter was to inform the boaties out there that we have had several boats anchor off the front of our place or tie up to Motts Wharf then precede up for a visit! We will gladly come and pick you up or drive you back or both should you wish to call ahead! Caution to those who walk up from the shore there is a bird canon in the vineyard somewhere going off at random times! It doesn’t lob projectiles but it does go off with a substantial bang if you are quite close to it! We have been in touch with the people who put in moorings and we are told to expect one just to the west of ours that you will be able to use. We will definitely notify you when it is available! You are unable to see the vineyard from the water unless you are way on the other side of the lake, but you will be able to recognize our 22 foot Tanzer - “Whisper”. GPS coordinates for the house are on the MAP page of this website. Look for our little white dinghy on the shore nestled into the trees and it is here that you will find the path up to the house through the vineyard. Don’t eat the grapes if you want wine!

We have been open now since the May 24 weekend and we are really thrilled with your response to this year’s wines. There seems to be no one favourite and all are going off the shelves! We have two other reds aging in oak barrels that will be released prior to harvest.

The vineyard itself is looking like 2010 is going to be a special year. The fruit set has been very good and the health of the vines, excellent! All this translates to the fact that we have had no time for anything but the vineyard and plans for trellis changes in some areas are not going to happen this year.

And you asked for it: we now have Debit and Visa available at the store! Some slick it is and much more convenient for you are valuable customers.

We are trying to get some new signage for various places along the route to the vineyard, have ordered some new barrels, are working on the Cranpagne and next year’s Rhubarb as we speak and planning on a new wine for next year!

We are also on a committee that is organizing the Life at the Lakes event in Cambridge-Narrows this coming August 7&8^th. We will be having vineyard tours; Richard Flynn will be having an event at his gallery, the quilters a display, tours of several other businesses in the area, car shows and to top it all off- Wendy Neilson will be giving a concert at the village bandstand. Check out the village website www.cambridge-narrows.ca or www.w-rcc.ca/lifeatthelakes.html for the schedule of events which should be published before the end of the month.

Sonia and I are looking forward to seeing some old faces and also to meeting some new. We have already had many a pleasant afternoon with past patrons and some very interesting visitors from BC, Toronto and from Virgina in the USA.

Hello Again! We are back from our winter, of much content, and already pruning in what looks like a very healthy vineyard as the winter was so mild there is little apparent winter kills!

Let’s start with the full moon party at year end; it actually fell right at New Years! We prepared the ice on the pond for the second annual MLV Curling Bonspiel with Meghann, Alex and myself working right up to the last minute. So much fun was had I can’t remember who, scooped what, at he awards ceremony!

Sonia and I, with, the help of Alex, Ian Varty and Annie Carpenter bottled the White, Rosé and Rhubarb wines that will be on sale for 2010. Our new bottling line up worked wonderfully with nary a hitch!

February, we were either in Ohope or Pukenui, New Zealand, trying to catch up on some well deserved rest after what I believe to have been our busiest year to date! We managed to read a few books, hike a few trails, swim and catch up with old friends, trying all the time not to think about the wines that were back home aging in oak barrels ( we bought some Canadian barrels this past winter, made in Ontario ).

March put us right back to work; but this time, at KEW winery in Gisborne www.kew.co.nz . It was here that Sonia and I learned a great deal more about managing a winery and the process of making fine wines. The team at KEW led by Anita Ewart-Croy and assisted by Justin Atkinson has won thirty some odd medals for their wine over the past six years, so something had to rub off! It was a delightful job and we were made very welcome by the entire Kirkpatrick family, Simon the owner, John, Beverly and Hamish and the team of dogs that kept the hedgehog population around the estate under check, led by Trixie.

Sonia and I purchased top quality Malbec grapes from Richard Macintyre’s vineyard on the Gisborne Flats and at KEW . Using their equipment, Sonia put her magic to work and we should have more Te Ata Po Malbec for those who enjoyed the 2008 that sold in the ANBL stores across New Brunnie.

Well, as I have said in the opening remarks, we are back; things are looking really good! We will have some improvements this year to the winery in support equipment and the actual rooms but we are not planning much else, as we are trying to gain control of the expenses! No plantings are planned either, for the first in many a year! We do have changes to some of our trellis wiring systems, but beyond normal repairs and maintenance, more concentration will be put into vineyard management and marketing!

We will have three red wines available for you this year, a Frontenac, a Foch and a Sabrevois along with our White blend we call Summer Solstice, our Rhubarb known as Chantilly Blush and what I believe to be quite a fine Rosé from our Frontenac Gris. We are hoping to have the store open the end of May, 22 & 23; the times published on our STORE page at the website. This coincides with --Wings Over Queens County—a tribute to a Enid Inch, Weaver, Naturalist and Friend; featuring an art display at the Flower House Museum in Cambridge-Narrows, guided walks with Jim Goltz in Gagetown, visits to Richard Flynn ’s art studio, bird watching and photographs with Bridgette Noelle, visits to The Applemans and Motts Landing Wineries, with much more.

Te Ata Po, Sonia's New Zealand Malbec has arrived in New Brunswick! We'll let you know when it's on the shelves at our ANBL stores. Here's a sneak peek at the stores that will be selling it: