Twelfth Night Wines has welcomed vineyard workers from all over the world but this is the first time, however, that we have had a crew member who arrived in New Zealand by sea! Eric Bihl joined the Twelfth Night team in November 2018 and plans to stay until after the harvest. Read all about Eric below.
Where are you from? Tell us a bit about your background, your childhood and your studies.
“Where are you from?” is a more complicated question than it should be, but I’ve recently taken to telling people I’m from Washington, D.C., as it is the last place I lived in the United States and is in the running for longest continuous habitation. The lengthier answer is I was born in Belgium and moved around quite a bit as a child with a significant stretch in England. My family moved to Connecticut for middle and high school. I then spent my senior year of high school in Rennes, France, with a program called SYA before enrolling at Wake Forest University.
What brought you to New Zealand and how did you connect with the folks at Twelfth Night Wines?
I literally took the slow boat to New Zealand. I sailed here with my friend Kennon in our 1971 Tartan 34c “Temujin” that we spent the last three years outfitting for a circumnavigation. We left Washington D.C. on January 15th 2018 and arrived in New Zealand on Thanksgiving Day via a route westwards around Cuba and through the Panama Canal and the South Pacific.
After deciding to spend the Pacific cyclone season, which is roughly November to May, in New Zealand, we figured it would be prudent to seek gainful employment. Serendipitously, I left a career in the wine industry back in D.C., and the only people I knew with any connection whatsoever to New Zealand, the Dahans, happened to own a vineyard here. I have known the Dahan family for over twenty years, as Arié and my father worked together in London in the late 90’s. I have distinct memories of watching the 1998 World Cup at their house as a ten year old. (France won!)
What did you do in the wine industry prior to coming to New Zealand?
Prior to leaving the U.S. I worked in sales and distribution for the E&J Gallo Winery in the D.C. and Baltimore metro areas.
What are the biggest challenges and rewards about working in a vineyard?
The biggest challenge has definitely been how physical the work is. I’m no stranger to manual labor, but after a full day bud rubbing or stretching out nets you come home exhausted. On the other side of the coin, you hit the pillow with a deep sense of peace and accomplishment. This is going to come off as hackneyed, but you truly develop a connection to the vines, the grapes, and the wine while working in the vineyard. You spend every day ensuring the well-being of these living things, and it’s hard not to feel a sense of obligation and pride that comes with stewardship. It has been a real joy to expand my knowledge of the production side of things, and working at Twelfth Night has given me a much greater appreciation for the amount of work that goes into a bottle of wine, irrespective of origin. Those who are not as theoretically inclined might find reward being part of an outstanding team creating a quality product. At the very least, Central Otago is absolutely, stunningly, beautiful.
Have you travelled to other places in New Zealand and what are your favorite memories?
I’ve travelled a good bit in the South Island from Arthur’s Pass down to the Fiordlands, and spent some time in the Bay of Islands on the North Island when I first arrived. It’s hard to pick favorites, as there are so many amazing things to see and so much geographic diversity packed into one small country, but the high point of my time here has been getting engaged to my lovely now fiancée, Lauren.
What are your plans after you finish your time at Twelfth Night?
Get married! Eventually. I still have a good bit of ocean to cover before I get home, but thankfully I have a partner who is incredibly supportive, and patient. I will leave New Zealand in May, continuing to sail West with the goal of being in South Africa by early November. As I will be there a few months it is my intention to work in the wine industry in some capacity there as well.
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One thing we can say about the 2018 grape harvest is that the grapes were in a big hurry to be picked! An extraordinary summer with record-breaking temperatures in January encouraged quicker than normal ripening of the fruit. As a result, harvest started earlier than it ever has in Central Otago – three weeks ahead of schedule. Harvest began on March 1 and ended on March 25, a date when we would normally just be starting to pick.
International Grape Harvest Crew
Many vineyards in the region were scrambling for pickers but at Twelfth Night Wines, we had our normal United Nations of pickers who are always attracted by the professionalism and great working environment created by Antony Worch, our winemaker and Julien Alexandre, our vineyard manager. This year we had 28 pickers from France, Belgium, Italy, The Czech Republic and South Korea. In the winery, our staff included workers from Argentina, New Zealand, France and the United States. Truly a melting pot of fabulous workers!
During the three weeks of picking, the conditions were mostly sunny and ideal for harvesting Pinot Noir grapes. The crew started with the early ripening blocks of California and Grand Canyon on March 1 and finished with the latest ripening blocks of Texas and Oregon on March 25. More than 65 miles of rows were navigated to pick 1.5 million bunches of grapes for a total of 170 tons of fruit. The quality of the grapes were phenomenal – very small berries with a high level of sugar (225 – 245 grams/liter) which promise to produce one of our best vintages ever.
As is tradition at Twelfth Night Wines, the harvest crew posed at the beginning of harvest in their matching t-shirts ready to work! At the end, everyone dressed up in a crazy costume to celebrate the end of yet another amazing vintage in the vineyard.
Next Stop - Winery!
The grape harvest is only the first step in the journey of making great wine. As soon as grapes were picked in the vineyard, they were whisked off to our winery which is located in the town of Alexandra. There, under the watchful eye of our winemaker Antony Worch, the process of making our Twelfth Night Pinot Noir and Pinot Noir Rosé began. The grapes were first placed in the de-stemmer followed by a 5-7 cold soak, 7-10 day fermentation at a peak temperature of 28˚C and 5-7 days of post-fermentation maceration. The traditional punch down technique was used to ensure maximum extraction of flavors and tannins. Each batch will be placed in French oak where it will undergo malolactic fermentation and was 9 months of maturation.
A Huge Thank You!
We are immensely grateful to our great harvest and winery crew and most especially to Antony and Julien who supervised the whole operation with efficiency and skill. Thank you to everyone for a great 2017-2018 season. See you next year!...
