Inner Wheel South Wairarapa

The latest monthly meeting was held at Cobblestones where members enjoyed a morning tea instead of our usual evening dinner meeting. 

The guest speaker at the meeting was Marquette Vierstraete from Riversdale,  who spoke about Project Uplift. 

This project aims to provide a collection of Bras for disadvantaged women in our community and women overseas.

Our Inner Wheel club collects Bras from our local lingerie shop in Greytown. 

They are washed and sorted, then taken to M’Lady in Masterton where there is a collection box. They are then distributed as and where needed. 

The last bundle we collected was given to Marquerite and sent to the Pacific Islands. 

This is just one of the many projects our Inner Wheel club does. 

The club meets for dinner once a month on the third Wednesday of the month. New members are very welcome. For further information ph 0276716227

Council starts work on 2024-34 LTP

By Paul Gardner Interim CEO

Things are busy as usual here at the Council. We have many projects on the go, with staff making progress on some impactful work for our community.

The major focus for us has been kicking off work for the 2024-34 Long-term Plan (LTP), which outlines to the community the future direction of the Council. 

We’re required to review our LTP every three years, giving us the opportunity to re-evaluate where we’re headed. Council and elected members have started workshopping, initially working through an environmental scan to help set the scene. Community engagement will take place later this year before formal consultation early next year.

As part of developing the LTP, we’re required to review Council’s significant Financial Policies, and part of this will includes a full Ratings Review. The ratings review does not impact the amount of rates revenue Council earns, rather it is about the share of that revenue across different cost categories. 

Ultimately, it’s a chance for elected members and the community to understand how rates are organised. Look out for public consultation on the proposed changes to some of the financial policies behind the LTP, including the Revenue and Financing policy, due out mid-September as part of the consultation process.

Some legislation we’re keeping a close eye on as we come into the election period and LTP was the passing of the final Affordable Water Reform legislation through Parliament, with Royal Assent given on 22 August. 

This sets out the duties, functions, and powers of the 10 entities that will manage water infrastructure across New Zealand. While this came as no surprise to us, there are still unknowns surrounding the transition to these new entities, including uncertainty about its future pending the outcome of the upcoming election. 

So, at this stage we carry on with business as usual and move forward with projects that are underway, such as the Martinborough Wastewater Treatment Plant.

On the social front, I hear I missed a fun-filled evening at the Waihinga Centre recently where the local Presbyterian Church held a fashion show to raise funds. We have a great community, and their generosity comes to the front at such times. Good work, all!

Well, it certainly feels like winter is slowly making its exit. I’m enjoying the lighter mornings and evenings and looking forward to the return of summer.

Pinot Pioneers transformed village life

By Joelle Thomson

Four of Martinborough’s Pinot Noir pioneers were celebrated, recognised and honoured at a large gathering of winemakers in July at Union Square Bar & Bistro.

The celebration was an opportunity to tell the country and world about the success of Martinborough and Wairarapa Pinot Noir. A large blind line-up of Wairarapa Pinot Noirs for media was followed by 55 invited guests enjoying sparkling Pinot Noir from Margrain Vineyard (one of Martinborough’s first wineries, starting life as Chifney Wines) and then a three-course degustation dinner prepared by Michelin-star chef Adam Newell.

The event recognised wine pioneers Derek Milne (a former soil scientist and co-founder of Martinborough Vineyard), Dr Neil McCallum (DSIR scientist and founder of Dry River Wines), winemaker Larry McKenna (of Martinborough Vineyard and then The Escarpment Vineyard) and Clive Paton, founder of Ata Rangi, whose life and business partner, Phyll Pattie, joined his journey shortly after he began.

“The Wairarapa wine region’s focus today remains as firmly on Pinot Noir as it has been for the past four decades,” said Wilco Lam, winemaker for On Giant’s Shoulders and committee member of Wairarapa Wine Region.

Soils were the conduit for early wine experimentation in this region. Scientist and wine lovers Derek Milne and Neil McCallum were part of a wine tasting group who met in Danny Schuster’s home in Lower Hutt to regularly taste and learn about classic wines of the world, which were “really affordable back then so we were able to obtain them and learn,” says McCallum.

This group led Schuster to North Canterbury while Milne and McCallum moved to Martinborough following a soil survey that Milne undertook. This paper was officially for horticultural purposes but its application to wine was clear.  … Continue Reading

Top of the Pinot Noir lists

Martinborough’s reputation for producing top-of-the-line Pinot Noir, which is also Aotearoa/New Zealand’s leading red grape variety, is widely recognised.

While those Pinot’s which make Top 10 lists vary according to the tastes of the list-makers, locally produced Pinot Noir shoulders its way into most groupings.

Master of Wines Bob Campbell is the latest to enter the lists fray.

“I have selected a handful of reliable Pinot Noir labels that have consistently performed with distinction over a number of years,” he wrote recently in BusinessDesk’s “The Life” column.

Campbell has five local Pinots in his Top 10. In order:

1. Craggy Range Aroha Te Muna Pinot Noir _ Martinborough

2. Dry River Pinot Noir _ Martinborough

3. Felton Road Pinot Noir _ Central Otago

4. Ata Rangi Pinot Noir _ Martinborough

5. Escarpment Kupe Pinot Noir _ Martinborough

6. Prophet’s Rock Retrospect Pinot Noir _ Central Otago

7. Kusuda Pinot Noir _ Martinborough

8. Neudorf Home Block Moutere Pinot Noir _ Nelson

9. Cloudy Bay Te Wahi Pinot Noir _ Central Otago

10. Amisfield RKV Reserve Pinot Noir _ Central Otago

Cuisine Magazine has also rated Martinborough’s Pinot Noirs highly, with three in the Top 10. 

The Top 5 on the list were awarded 5-Star ratings.

Cuisine’s order:

1. Craggy Range Te Muna Road Pinot Noir 2020 _ Martinborough

2. Nga Waka Pinot Noir 2020 _ Martinborough

3. Saint Clair James Sinclair Pinot Noir 2021 _ Marlborough

4. Nga Waka Lease Block Pinot Noir 2021 _ Martinborough

5. St Clair Pioneer Block 15 Strip Block Pinot Noir _ Marlborough

6. Waimea Pinot Noir 2019 _ Nelson

7. Lake Chalice The Raptor Pinot Noir 2012 _ Marlborough

8. Tohu Awatere Valley Pinot Noir 2019 _ Marlborough

9. Peregrine Pinot Noir 2020 _ Central Otago

10. Ayrburn Whimsy Central Otago Pinot Noir 2019 _ Central Otago