Information Letter

Dear Delegate

1. Meal Requirements

If you have any special meal requirements and haven’t told me yet please do ASAP.    Please also email me the meals your family members intend to eat at the hotel.  They order specifically to accommodate our requested numbers so it is important that you let me know now.  Once booked, you will have to pay for them so please be accurate.

*Meal costs(TBC):   Breakfast included in room rate/Lunch $49pp / Dinners $65-$120pp (they are priced differently each night with the Gala Dinner being the most expensive).

* Note that there are discounts for children.  (Under 12 half price and Under 5 = free).

2. Transport to the Hotel

Bus transport is available from Christchurch City and Airport to the Hotel.  To arrange a seat please phone Hanmer Connection on 0800-242-663, or email [email protected].

They have a scheduled bus which departs the central city daily at 9am and returns leaving Hanmer Springs at 4.30pm but they can organize a charter if necessary and this is often cheaper. Please use the joint emails to contact other delegates and share transport.

All payments should be made directly to the bus company.

3. Sending Wine Ahead

The address for those wishing to send wine etc in advance is:

Hanmer Springs Hotel

1 Conical Hill

7334 Hanmer Springs

Atten: Simon Jackson

Make sure you label the package clearly:

SOUTHERN PINOT NOIR WORKSHOP Attention Simon

Please track your shipment and make sure it will be at the hotel BEFORE you arrive at the Workshop

4. Accommodation Prior to, or after, the Workshop

Should you wish to stay at the Hotel prior to, or after, the Workshop, please let me know now so I can ensure you are placed in a room that is available for the duration.

Costs per night for additional stays:   Hotel Room / Garden Villa = $259 per night and Family Villa is $550-600 per night (TBC)

5. Experimental Wines

Please contact me if you have an experiment ASAP.

6. What to Bring

1. Four bottles of your 2024 vintage Pinot Noir for morning tastings (See item 9 for instructions for taking barrel samples.  If your wine is already bottled and closed with a cork, please bring five bottles). Please ensure that you label the wine clearly with the winery name you registered under – it seems simple…… but!

2. 3-4 bottles of a previous vintage Pinot Noir for pre-dinner tastings (preferably from the 2023 vintage).

3. Wines you would like to drink and to share during evening dinners.  Try to bring something interesting or rare and it can be any wine from anywhere (so probably not your current vintage wines or wines that are easy to find in NZ).  The evening Menus will be Pinot focused but plenty of opportunity for white wines as well.

4. Outdoor sporting equipment if you like. There will be a very social round of golf but clubs can be rented – the tennis courts at the Heritage are good, and biking, hiking and fishing around Hanmer Springs are great.

7. Programme

The programme and most other info is on the Delegate Info page of the website http://www.pinotworkshop.com/delegate-information – please check this page for answers before asking Lynnette. PLEASE NOTE that the Workshop start time is 12.45 pm and it is very important that we start on time as we have a full afternoon.  Please try to arrive at the hotel mid to late morning so you have time to settle in and relax before the start of the Workshop.  The hotel will do its best to have your room available when you arrive, but this is not always possible due to occupancy on the previous night.  There are plenty of sofas to relax on if needed!

8. Child Care

Should you require babysitters for the evenings or during the day please look on the Hanmer Springs Noticeboard on Facebook

9. Preparing Samples for the Southern Pinot Noir Workshop

To present to the Workshop a representative sample of your wine it is important that the sample is taken carefully.  Far too often winegrowers reply to comments about their wine with “it’s not like this in the cellar”.  They in turn miss out on useful feedback on their wine.

The following is a procedure for preparing samples for the Workshop.  We strongly suggest you follow the recommendations so that samples arrive at the Workshop in the best possible condition.  To reduce the influence of new oak we also suggest that you select a sample from old or mixed age barrels. Please present your wine in 750ml BURGUNDY shaped glass bottles, preferably from our sponsor OI) if possible with a generic screw cap, black in colour.  The aim is to taste your wine blind.  Coloured screw caps will make your wine stand out.

 

1. Select barrel/tanks for sampling. Please avoid barrels that are obviously going through malo – they often change a lot between sampling and the workshop – not in a good way!
2. Siphon approximately 4 L into a holding vessel under gas protection.
3. Adjust the sample 15-20ppm free SO². Please do the math carefully.
4. Using a siphon tube, fill the bottles (4) from the bottom of the bottle and cap the bottle immediately.  Please use screw cap bottles only.
5. If the wine is in the barrel at the appropriate SO² level or you do not wish to add SO², gas the bottles and fill directly.
6. Take the samples at least 4-6 days prior to the Workshop to allow any added SO² to settle.
7. Keep the samples cool in the lead up to the Workshop and during transport.

 

Some basic guidelines for experiments – for those who have organised to bring them

1. Have a question and a hypothesis in mind – what result do you expect to see from your experiment?  This enables your question to be testable and you can then determine whether the results are in agreement with your expectations or not.
2. Ensure that you only have one variable that is different between your treatments.  For example, if you want to test the effect of sulfur sprays on the vineyard on your finished wines, you will have to have the concentration/frequency of sulfur sprays the only thing that is different between the wines you are comparing.  If you used a different yeast for each wine that also differed in frequency of sulfur sprays, you would have a confounding variable and you would not be able to say that the difference in the wine was only due to sulfur spray frequency.
3. Include a control. With the above example, you should have a wine made from a control (no sulfur sprays or what you would do normally), then your treatment you are testing (more frequent sprays).  You can add more treatments if you like, just ensure you have a control to compare against.
4. Determine how you will measure what you are testing, .e.g. by tasting the finished wines?

 

10. Accommodation Changes:

The hotel doesn’t organize the rooms – if your accommodation needs to change please contact Lynnette directly [email protected]

If you have any questions that are not answered on the website http://pinotworkshop.com/delegate-information  or this list – please contact Lynnette [email protected] or 021650-197

We look forward to seeing you all at the 2025 Workshop.

Lynnette (for Southern Pinot Noir Workshop Committee)