1. I’m Misha Wilkinson and I own Misha’s Vineyard (along with my husband Andy) in Central Otago – the Pinot Noir capital of New Zealand.

 

2. We’ve been in this business for over twenty years, having planted our vineyard from scratch. There’s never been a harder time to sell wine – domestically in New Zealand or in our international markets – of which we have 15.

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3. Assuming this question about what ‘viticultural areas’ I most admire and why, is asking about a region as opposed to an ‘area of viticulture’ which would refer to an aspect of growing grapes. Of course, I admire the region we’re in – Central Otago, which had just 207 planted hectares back in 1999 and now there are 2,163 hectares of vineyards with 82% of all plantings being Pinot Noir. It’s a new wine-

growing region – but in fact, New Zealand is a new winegrowing country which celebrated 50 years of producing and exporting wine in 2023. But Central Otago is even newer with most of the growth occurring over the past 25 years.

I admire this region because it’s basically a region of family-owned artisan producers who haven’t inherited vineyards from past generations – but a region of pioneers who have planted grapes and been passionate about producing some of the finest wines from New Zealand. Our predominant variety, Pinot Noir, represents the holy grail of winemaking -- it’s a difficult grape to grow and even more difficult to craft fine wines from. I also admire our region’s commitment to sustainability in terms of vineyards, winemaking and bottling/packaging our wine.

Over 98% of New Zealand’s vineyards are farmed sustainably, and Central Otago also has the highest proportion of organic and biodynamically farmed vineyards. And did I mention it’s a spectacular winegrowing region with vineyards planted in the valleys between the snow-capped mountains and the lakes with their mirror reflections.

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4. As a boutique producer, no two days are alike. As with any small business, one’s tasks cover a wide range of activities. Today it was attending a session on a neighbouring vineyard on the use of drones for spraying, then back to the office to get logistics sorted for an order that needed to be despatched to China, to then doing a social media post about a fantastic review of a wine that has just appeared in a magazine. There are some traditions though, and as it’s a Friday today, our small team will gather in the office at 4pm (above our Tasting Room ) and try a wine. We might look at some older vintages of one of our wines, or we might sample blends if we’re in the winemaking process, or we might just taste some other styles and discuss trends and what the ‘competition’ is doing!

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5. If you want to buy me a bottle of wine – “thank you”. I will take a sparkling wine please. We don’t produce a Methode Traditionelle (or any other version of a sparkling wine) but I do enjoy bubbles of various types and from various countries.

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6. The thing that still makes me happy in my job, after all these years, is seeing people ordering and enjoying our wines. Perhaps the best example of this was recently travelling at the front of an Air New Zealand plane (via an upgrade I might add),and being asked what wine I would like to drink after take-off. Air New Zealand likes to showcase the ‘best of the best’ at the pointy end of their planes! I asked what Pinot Noir they had – and they proudly announced it was a Misha’s Vineyard ‘The High Note’ Pinot Noir - from a very good vintage. It made me smile – for a long time!

What do I dislike the most in my job? There’s nothing that I would say I dislike - some tasks are better than others but I simply can’t think of anything that I would say I disliked.

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7. Is it possible to make an “artistic wine” at a low price? I have no idea what this means. Does artistic mean an interesting colour, unusual texture, something completely unique? I will answer this another way. We don’t try to produce wines to a price point. Our aim is to produce fine wines - the best examples that we can produce that reflect our site, our region, and the variety, and to be crafted in a style that can be enjoyed in their youth, but can also age well. Those wines are a reflection of artisan winemaking where craft and passion combine.

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8. When I was at University, living on a low income, but still keen to imbibe, I drank a reasonable amount of sweet and sparkling

Lambrusco. It seemed to work perfectly with pizza and pasta! These days, and in spite of the many very good examples of Lambrusco that are now produced, I tend not to derive the same level of enjoyment!

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9. My favourite variety is Pinot Noir – after all I’m predominantly a Pinot Noir producer! It’s prized for being delicate, with a light to medium body, smooth and silky texture and a melange of flavours that sit in the red fruit and darker red fruit spectrum. Pinot Noir also has a sense of place that reflect where it is grown. It’s not an easy grape to grown as it’s thin-skinned and prone to disease, so you need

the perfect conditions which limit its production to just a few special places in the world.

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10. Most people think ‘I’m living the dream’ by owning a vineyard. But being a vineyard owner is overrated. Is it the most overrated? Perhaps not but it’s certainly not an easy thing! Managing the constant risks of (grape) farming presents so many challenges – which are just increasing with our ever-changing globally weather patterns. But perhaps the hardest part of owning a vineyard is selling wine. With the anti-alcohol lobbies around the world increasing their voice and the trends for low and no-alcohol beverages, along with a global economic downturn that’s impacting the sales of ‘luxury goods’ and discretionary spend in general, it’s getting harder and harder to find markets for fine wine.

 

11. If I could go back in time and give myself a single piece of advice, it would be to work harder to modify my perfectionism. Or as the American’s say “don’t sweat the small stuff”. I’m a details girl, and it applies to everything. I strive for the best and expect others to as well. It means I’m often disappointed. On the positive side, my striving for perfection is the ideal counterpoint to my husband, who runs the business with me.

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12. Every winegrowing region needs to reassess their climate conditions to ensure they’re growing the varieties that work best for their climate – particularly if they’ve seen considerable changes. With some Old World wine producing countries, with their appellation rules, it’s not so easy to change to varieties that are not within the rules for the appellation. To that extent, most New World wine producing countries are more fortunate as wine-growing regions have more flexibility with what they plant and how they grow the vines. Being from the world’s southern-most winegrowing region, Central Otago, does have some benefits. We are such a cool winegrowing region, we certainly have some tolerance if temperatures were to increase a little!

 

13. My life is wine – and food. Relaxation time is usually involved around those things whether it be in new places to discover wine and food, like the Eger wine region in Hungary that we were explored for the first time last September, or enjoying ourselves in more familiar wine regions where we have been many times, like Piemonte in Italy – the home of Barolo!

 

14. Where in the world, provides the best view of wine? This is a somewhat ambiguous question that I’ll respond to quite literally – the best view of wine is in Central Otago. It’s New Zealand’s most spectacular region and for many critics around the world, it’s cited as one of the most beautiful. Central Otago is known for its dramatic landscapes, including mountains, lakes, and deep river gorges, which provide a picturesque backdrop for its vineyards.

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15. The one question I wish I’d been asked is, ‘knowing what I know now, would I have still made a decision to quit my job in the corporate world (where I was based in Asia) and move back to New Zealand and plant a vineyard?” I have always said, “Yes I would” – without hesitation. The positives have always outweighed the negatives. But currently, it’s a very tough economy and it feels like we’re working harder than ever, and at a time in our lives when it should be getting easier. Hopefully this is a passing phase of economic uncertainty and the coming year will get a little easier and the positives once again tip the balance!

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