The team at Domaine Thomson bids farewell to our esteemed viticulturist, Simon Gourley, as he embarks on his business venture.

We marked Bastille Day, the fourteenth of July, with an exquisite lunch for our esteemed wine club members and the local community.

What a beautiful, sunny Central Otago day we had for our Christmas Fair! Fortunately, there was not much wind. It has been three years since we started the first fair and each year, it has been really good fun.

"This spring has been the Spring of the Tree Peonies at Domaine Thomson. Tree peonies are small bushes that grow from seed, unlike herbaceous peonies, which are grown from peony tubers. In winter, tree peonies lose their leaves, but the structure of the branches remains, unlike herbaceous peonies, which die back into clumps. Over time, tree peonies can become quite wide bushes of over 1 metre wide."

When I first met Sylvain and Delphine Descombes at a wine fair in Dijon last year, I was struck by how good their wine was, and second, by our animated discussion about their forthcoming trip, with their four children, to New Zealand, over the Christmas holidays!

A week ago, PM and I had just arrived in Burgundy. The days were sunny and warm, with daily highs reaching 18 to 19°. The vines were waking up from their winter sleep and there were early signs of budding in some vineyards. A week later, a storm system from northern Europe is upon us and temperatures have plummeted.