Feb 11th, 2010
Just as we were set to move along from Waipare Homestead, Kris and I got another WWOOFing opportunity on a vineyard close by, so we stayed in the area for an extra 5 or so days. Louia and the girls went to Auckland for the week so we opted to stay at the homestead and keep Scrubbs company. We really had a blast with Scrubbs, and the surf picked up for a couple of days! The three of us would wake up with a surf, go to the vineyard for 5 hours, eat, meet back up with Scrubbs for another surf, and then cook up a nice dinner.
The vineyard work consisted of moving down the rows clearing excess leaves to allow sunlight to get to the fruit and prepare for the application of bird nets. The job was fast-paced and our time passed rather quickly, but it sure made for rough, sore hands. In hindsight we should have asked for gloves. In all my years serving and drinking wine, I’ve never been to a vineyard so we welcomed the opportunity to help out for a couple days.
The vineyard produced merlot, chardonnay and muscat grapes. The muscat is organic and the others are simply no-spray. The owners would like to keep the option of applying a fungicide when molding occurs, a fairly common affliction among vineyards in this area. Because this was a short-term commitment (we worked the vineyard for 3 days), under pressure (they wanted to get the bird nets on pronto), there was not a lot of opportunity to ask questions. Although one morning Kris and I were driving in and saw a helicopter spraying crops over what looked like the vineyard, so we had to ask about their practices because we did not want to spend the day showered in pesticide. The copter was spraying a couple farms away, but being an airborne application I can’t help but wonder what if a big wind was to blow? Wouldn’t that spread the stuff on to other farms? (Note: I am only guessing that the spray was toxic.)
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