Inside Tony Bish’s urban winery in Hawke’s Bay, Chardonnay breathes through French oak vessels. On the concrete walls, photographs of the forests from which they came. Over the decades he’s made regular sojourns to those ancient woods, observing their stewardship and even joining the exacting Taransaud coopers in the selection of individual trees. Milled, seasoned for up to four years, and crafted into barrels, puncheons and ovoids, they make the long voyage to New Zealand. As...
Wine's roots in the forest
• 12 min read
Forest terroir is as real, and as consequential, as vineyard terroir. Above, Tony Bish in the Tronçais forest in central France (credit: Richard Brimer).
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