18 February 2012

Team TP Top Ten #56

Glenn A. Baker, music writer, broadcaster

Ladies and Gentlemen! A little hush if you please in the Dayglo...we know the Kahluas and milk are kicking in about now (for those of you who unwisely choose not to be drinking Two Paddocks on this your big night out) and you’re all a tad over-excited, but look, tonight you’ll not just be dancing, but you might just learn something. Because tonight’s special guest DJ knows more about rock, and pop, than pretty much anyone else alive. So much so he won "Rock Brain of the Universe" no less than three times on the BBC. It has been his life’s work. At last, someone who knows what they are talking about.
Not just that, but he’s managed bands (notably Ol’ 55, with the brilliant Frankie J. Holden), writes music, has done his time – decades – on radio and television, run record labels (you remember actual records...Raven Records he runs to this day), written countless books and articles on music, and heaps of other stuff. We love him at HQ as he helps while away the hours on our favourite airline QANTAS with his regular audio programme "Reelin' in the Years."

He is a scholar of music, a booster of Australian music in particular, and above all a fan. He knows everyone living or dead in popular music, and has stories about them all. He is also a generous and good bloke,  he’s great company, and we are delighted to have him here in the Dayglo (this weeks colour – chunder-chartreuse), a big  Dayglo Dazzle of a hand for the distinguished and learned...Mr GLENN A. BAKER!

16 February 2012

The Piggery

A time of plenty

At this time of the year, our orchards overflow with abundance. And our pigs make ... well ... pigs of themselves.

And then again, so do we.

Why not?

The newlyweds picnicking up large.

11 February 2012

Team TP Top Ten #55

Fred Schepisi AO, Film Director

Ladies and Gentlemen! And Rob Sitch! Tonight, a very special DJ appearance in The Dayglo Delite, a formidably distinguished Lion of the Cinema, and a Great Australian, and not least an old Two Paddocks friend, ally and supporter, one of the key figures in the cultural renaissance that Australia enjoyed in the 1970s and 80s, and a leading light in Antipodean movies to this day, as well as a director of great import internationally. You perhaps know him best for The Devil’s Playground, The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith (btw, how interesting to see Tommy back in Red Hill wreaking revenge once more!) The Russia House, Six Degrees of Separation, Last Orders, Empire Falls and the recent Eye of the Storm with Geoffrey Rush and Charlotte Rampling. But here at HQ we know him best for Plenty and A Cry in the Dark ... because the Prop appeared in both along with La Streep ... an inspired DJ choice by Dayglo management not least because of Fred’s profound interest and knowledge of music (see his movies as an insight into that) and because of course we love him to bits. A gentleman, a lout, smart cookie and clown ... here he is ... lurching up to the stage, half tanked and half ahead of all of us ... roaring and right! Put your hands together for our great friend and delightful colleague ... a big Dayglo Disco welcome please for ... Mr FRED SCHEPISI!!>>>

10 February 2012

Chicken Licken

What price liberty?

"Caged birds accept each other, but what they long for is flight." --Tennessee Williams

Our chickens, indeed all our fowl, are never caged. Except at night, when they retire gracefully to their safe and secure feather lined sleeping quarters in the coop. Turns out though they care nothing for flight, but the liberty to roam at will means everything to them.

And roam they do, in gangs mostly. At any given moment you can find yourself mobbed by a bunch of your feathered friends anywhere around the vineyards.

All our chickens are famous -- the sharp eyed will be able to identify Laura Dern, Lady Gaga, Sir Ian McKellen, and more -- but they still act like fans if they think you might be a star. To them, a man with a bucket is a star, and in a matter of moments, you have a flashmob on your hands.

But freedom, as elsewhere, can come at a cost. The bird at large can find itself prey; danger can come from both the sky (hawks), or from behind the next bush. (stoats and ferrets).

So, regretfully, we need to intercede from time to time. With ferrets anyway. Hawks we just try to scare away. But the ferret type predator is a dangerous and destructive beast – sometimes you'd swear they kill for fun – and Mike is forced to take sterner measures.

As Nelson Mandela said "Freedom would be meaningless without security at home and in the streets."

Maybe our pal Kris Kristofferson was right when he said "Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose." Except your life ...

It is ironic that some of the most beautiful of creatures are also the most lethal. Could be a lesson in this ...

4 February 2012

Team TP Top Ten #55

Jimmy Barnes, musician

Ladies and Gentlemen! And John Hay! It’s Living Legend Time! Tonight, the house is rockin’ larger than life and considerably more dangerous, a Great Australian, the veritable embodiment of all things rock n’ roll, an artist with more hit albums than any other Australian,  a survivor, reviver, a testifier, family man, Working Class Man, all class hero ... and a good friend. We are lucky to have him here in The Dayglo, and lucky to know him, generous, funny and a consummate entertainer. Here he is, courtesy of Two Paddocks Virtual Airways (So cheap, we did away with the planes). First Class only for a first class bloke ...  A big Dayglo hand if you please for the wonderful ... Mr ... Jimmy Barnes!>>>

3 February 2012

Organics at Work

It may seem like crap to you, but to us it’s gold.

We are firm believers here at Two Paddocks in organics and biodynamics. So our cattle, our two miniature Belted Galloways for instance, are not only decorative, but they also provide that most elementary of fertile materials – manure.

So we send the team up to gather the cow ‘pats’ for use in Mike’s compost ‘teas’ and other brews as sanctioned by Steiner et al, for use with our vines.

We believe this adds immeasurably to the health and vigour of our soils, vines, grapes  and ultimately, our wine.

Gathering cows [---]. Probably not a job to boast about in the pub. Gordy and Gongli look on, feeling useful perhaps.
The Poo Team includes two Philips, from Sweden, and Bob’s grandson Jake.

1 February 2012

Team TP Top Ten #54

Ricky Fataar, musician

Ladies and Gentlemen! And Mark Joffe! Drum roll if you please! Tonight, by special request of the Prop, and flown First Class on Two Paddocks Virtual Airways (your pilot today ... Al Gore!), an old friend and a remarkable musician. Cutting to the chase, if it wasn’t cool enough to have been the sublime Bonnie Raitt’s drummer for the last thirty years, and having been a Rutle, he was (and here The Prop almost faints at the very idea) an actual, real life Beach Boy – not just a member of that extraordinary band, but a member at the very height of their powers 1970- 1973, which necessarily covers those sublime albums Carl & The Passions: So Tough, Holland, and The Beach Boys Live: God in Heaven, how unbelievably cool. All of that, AND he has worked with (often as a producer) Boz Scaggs, Tim Finn, Crowded House, Renee Geyer, Delbert McClinton ... on and on, so many cool dudes. And not only is he a drummer, and one of the world’s great drummers, he is also extremely handy on guitar, pedal steel and of course ukulele. Ladies and Gentlemen, our cup runneth over ... bring him up on stage if you will, a sweet man, and a powerfully sweet musician ... all the way from Durban via San Francisco and, oh, a bunch of locales ... the one and only ... Mr RICKY FATAAR!>>>

31 January 2012

The Distiller at Work

The finished product...

Mike carefully decants Two Paddocks Lavender Oil.

30 January 2012

Lads and Lavender

It’s harvest time again

One of the more pleasurable jobs at this time of the year is the harvesting of our lavender.

Try to imagine the giddy almost overpowering aromas that the boys are with all  that long summer’s day.

Nathan, Simon and Keith collect the lavender flowers with a Japanese tea harvester we have adapted for the job. The bees, particularly bumbles, tend to view this with displeasure, so some care is necessary.
We then take the lavender to our lab, where we carefully distill the oil.  Two Paddocks is coveted by many, rightly so. We hope to be able to offer it for sale when we open our on -line shop. Lavender Water is a by product, one that the Prop throws liberally into his bath.
This year, Mike has taken over responsibilities as distiller. He has expressed interest in expanding to kirsch and vodka, but time will tell. His beer is dangerous enough.

25 January 2012

Team TP Top Ten #53

Tony Backhouse, musician and choirmaster   

Ladies and Gentlemen! And Simon Morris! Tonight, live in the Dayglo Disco one of New Zealand’s (and indeed the World's) finest and most accomplished musicians and singers, a very old chum of The Prop's, and a very fine fellow indeed. A veteran of some of our country's best bands – the legendary Mammal, the extraordinary if short lived Crocodiles, as well as the unforgettable and beautifully named The Vulgar Beatmen ... and then, in a kind of self-reinvention, became a progenitor of gospel choirs and a giver of harmonizing workshops that are truly inspirational (having been to one for a weekend we know of what we speak – even Grahame Sydney found he had a voice, a miracle in itself). Among his many achievements perhaps his greatest is the founding, and running for 20 or so years, of the amazing  Sydney a cappella choir, Café at the Gates Of Salvation, as well as The Heavenly Light Quartet, and has sowed the seeds for a number of different choirs that have sprung up in his wake. He's a man who brings song and harmony and light and pure joy wherever he goes, all around the world. On your feet if you please! Put your hands together, in the Amen Corner! Give Praise Brothers and Sisters! Shout it out now! Oh Happy Dayglo Day...bring him up to the stage Ladies and Gentlemen, and give it up for...Mr...Tony Backhouse!!>>>

24 January 2012

Milestones

Jolly Good Fellows, etc.

Desiree had her baby last week, a stupendously handsome little boy, and all staff at TPHQ are thrilled, congrats and so on.

Not all babies are as cute as this young fellow. Cameron Mullen.

At the same time, Bob celebrated his 70th birthday at HQ, more congrats, singing of songs, etc.

Not all cakes are as beautiful as Bob’s.
Not all our staff are as dashing as Bob. Bob, Rowena and their girls.

21 January 2012

Team TP Top Ten #52

Ian McKellen, actor

Ladies and Gentlemen! Pray silence in the Dayglo! Be upstanding if you will for a Knight of the Realm! Have we ever been grander? I don’t think so! Have we ever been smarter? No! Have we ever been more plush? Well, perhaps back when we still sported the velveteen couchettes. Today, a rare and extreme honour ... the nobbiest of nobby nobs, one of the Very Greats of Stage and Screen, a marvelous actor and a lovely man. Here gracing the newly reno’ed Dayglo (how do you like the Orange we found in the Army Surplus Store  in Haight-Ashbury then?) ... someone with so many theatre credits you need another couple of pages when you print the programme, a stalwart of the RSC and the National as well as the West End in general, a great Shakespearian thesp, and, as it happens, a big old Movie Star, to boot. Of course you loved him in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and X Men, and who wouldn’t? But we thought he was the bloody bees knees in Gods and Monsters, Scandal, Apt Pupil, Richard 111 and...oh, bollocks, the list is too damn long, and at the end of the day, you’re here to boogaloo in the  Dazzling Dayglo Disco ("Vile" -- International Herald Tribune). So put those dancing pumps back on, and put those hands in the air, and make way for the great, the one and only ... SIR ... IAN ... McKELLEN! >>>

18 January 2012

Team TP Top Ten #51

Jimmy Nesbitt, actor

Ladies and Gentlemen!  Brruuppp! Your M.C., in the Place To Be ... Tonight, direct from the set of The Hobbit, a very special guest D.J. ... Boom!  Yes, courtesy of Two Paddocks Virtual Air (The airline of choice to the virtual jet set) here in the Dayglo Disco (this week’s colour - Livid Lime) the fourth actor from Ireland to grace our decks – count them, and award yourselves ten free points if you’ve got them all -- yes, one of the world’s best loved actors ... and one of the very best, period. You knew him first from  Cold Feet, great series, you followed him religiously every week in Murphy’s Law, he made you laugh in Hear My Song and Waking Ned Devine, he rattled your cage in Bloody Sunday, you thought him a knockout in Five Minutes of Heavenand Jekyll and ... look, this is beginning to sound like bloody Spotlight. Let’s just say we wish we had half his talent, his wit, his charm, his charisma ... yes it’d make you crook, the man’s got it all. Without further ado, let’s bring him up here, the likeable larrikin, Ballymena’s Best, here with his very own Top Ten, a big Dayglo hand, if you please for ... Mr ... Jimmy Nesbitt!>>>

17 January 2012

Ginger and Her Pal

The romance continues

People have been asking us if all is well in the Pig Department, and we are happy to report that all is cordial in the honeymoon paddock.

In fact the two porcine members of Team TP are inseparable. Love, actually.

14 January 2012

Team TP Top Ten #50

Neil Finn, Musician

Ladies and Gentlemen!  At last, in person, a man who has long been a staple in the remodeled Dayglo Two Paddocks Virtual Disco ("Interior design for the visually impaired" --The Guardian), yes, a staple and favourite here since the beginning of rock. The great Neil Finn, a man who has transcended the unfortunate misspelling of his first name,  and risen from the shibeens of Te Awamutu to grace the stages of the world’s biggest stadiums; an ambassador for his country, an inspiration to millions, a luminous creative force driving in the heart of New Zealand,  collaborator and spur to his brother Tim as well as hundreds of other musicians, a father to two rising stars Liam and Elroy, a husband to Sharon (she of the chandeliers and The Pajama Club), as prone to gaffes as he is to mysterious inspired creativity ... here he is, he lives just up the road, but we decided as a courtesy in deference to his mana, to fly him First Class by Two Paddocks Virtual Air (Is that Paris out the window, or is it just me?)  here he is finally after a journey of five months, (It should have been three hours, but sometimes if you’re lucky, we don’t just lose your bags, we lose you, too.) Up you come Neil ... the eternally youthful, the great guy, our Two Paddocks friend ... the wonderful ... Neil Finn!>>>

13 January 2012

The Proprietor Speaks

And manages to string together more than two sentences at least.

Yes, the 'Man of Few Words' (mainly because he is unable to think of any more), speaks out about no less than this very site that you are perusing right now.

A candid and revealing probe into the miniscule mind of the Prop by those fearless and uber-intelligent Men of Radio, Phil O’Brian and Simon Morris. All the info you could possibly ever want on out Top 10 section.

Simon Morris (on the left of the photo) is an old friend of the Prop's, whose first startling recollection of Simon was seeing him rock out playing Street Fighting Man at a demo in front of the Wellington Town Hall, 1970. What were we demonstrating about exactly... um ... Viet Nam ... probably.

11 January 2012

Team TP Top Ten #49

Duncan Forsyth, Vigneron

Ladies and Gentlemen! Oh ... none here? Just the riff raff then. Tonight in the newly renovated Two Paddocks Virtual Dayglo Disco ("Visually toxic"--The Times) our first guest DJ who actually looks at home in this pleasingly garish environment – most of us in Central Otago merely put on clothes in the morning ... here's a man who dresses up, each and every day!

Regular Dayglo punters will know, that here at HQ, we take our hats off to many other wineries, we love quite a few; but some we love more than others. Mt. Edward in Gibbston is one of those, and here is its Vigneron, dressed in an appalling flared powder blue suit with lapels as wide as a B-52, unseemly yellow crocodile boots, and a genuine Memphis string tie with Native American motif, worn on a dizzyingly embroidered Taiwanese shirt. Yes, it could only be  the one of a kind  Duncan Forsyth!

Raised in the salubrious Hutt Valley, barely educated in Nelson, trashed at Vic, munted in New Orleans, obliterated in Sun Valley, demolished at Lincoln, Duncan, by great good fortune, found rehabilitation and sweet reason at last at Chard Farm in the early Nineties, and thereafter at Peregrine. Which lead to Mount Edward in 2004, which has become one of the very best Central wineries. The fall and rise of the Prodigal.

Occasionally, however, Duncan will revert to type, as his DJ set proves -- every year Duncan chances his health and sanity (such as he has left) with a pilgrimage to the madness that is Burning Man. Rash and extremely ill advised, yes, but at least when he gets back, bedraggled and rueful, he has good stories to tell. And here’s one...

Denizens of the Dayglo ... avert your eyes if you are easily offended by kitsch on a grown man, but in any case, a huge Two Paddocks welcome to our friend and colleague, an awfully funny man, and awesome winemaker, and our ambassador at large, god help us ... The one and only ... Duncan Forsyth!!>>>

10 January 2012

Our Orchards

It’s cherry time again.

At Redbank we have about 20 acres of cherries, and they are close to picking right now. This is another time of the year when The Prop has much trouble with self restraint.

Ah well.

We have already alluded to the wild thyme that abounds in the area as in part perhaps accounting for some of the savoury notes you may detect in our Pinot.

It may be a stretch, but the dark red fruit flavours as well – is it possible our surrounding orchards in some way contribute to those?

A mystery, and we leave you to decide.

When these cherries ripen, they mostly find their way to the US and Japan.

7 January 2012

Team TP Top Ten #48

Richard E. Grant, Actor

Ladies and Gentlemen! Yes, you asked for him ... well you can have him! Without a doubt one of the very best actors of his generation, and a very amusing interesting bloke -- but that’s by the by since he’s here as tonight’s DJ, in the recently reno’ed Dayglo Disco ("...Rancid..." The New York Times). What? You want more about Richard? Why, for goodness sake, everyone loves him enough, we say! Oh alright then ... we will always love him for Withnail and I (with the possible exception of The Big Lebowski, every actor’s favourite fillum), we loved him in Prêt-à-Porter, Gosford Park, Portrait of a Lady, How to Get Ahead in Advertising, on stage in Importance of being Earnest and My Fair Lady, and we are not alone in our undying gratitude for his lavish extravagance in Hudson Hawk ... the list goes on and on ...  But most of all, we love him for Wah Wah, one of our all time favourite  films -- his heartfelt semi-autobiographical story of growing up in Swaziland, a brilliant post-colonial film about colonialism (and growing up and betrayal and ... lots of things). And we are fizzing at the bung to see him play Michael Heseltine opposite Meryl in Iron Lady. And here he is direct from the set of the Kath and Kim Filum (another not-to-be-missed epic), looking as unruffled and debonair as always, courtesy of Two Paddocks Virtual Airways (First Class: Take to the skies, without leaving home) ... the completely, deliriously splendid ... Mr. RICHARD E. GRANT!!>>>

6 January 2012

TPHQ Open For Business

Swing by, why don’t you?

We are open at TPHQ, January 4th – March 4th, Wednesday to Saturday,
11 am to 4 pm. All welcome, but you in particular. Come on by ...

315 Strode Rd , Earnscleugh. (Just 5 minutes from Clyde.)

Redbank vineyard is nestled up among very rugged hills; The Old Man Range. Or The Old Woman Range, we aren’t quite sure.

4 January 2012

Team TP Top Ten #47

Grahame Sydney, painter

Ladies and Gentlemen! Tonight in the Two Paddocks Dayglo Disco (not so much psychedelic décor, more bilious, if seen in the light of day), direct from our kitchens where he’s been helping the short-order cook, a man who has made a most distinguished career painting a once little known corner of New Zealand, and made it famous as a result.

The Maniototo, a profoundly empty seeming landscape, eerie and beautiful , is now commonly known as Grahame Sydney country.

In fact, he not only has defined that landscape, he is now part of it -- if you see a stringy, gnarly looking geezer painting en plein air among the tussocks, it’ll be him. Either that, or it’s a telephone pole, they are easily confused.

So here he is, a very old companion of Two Paddocks (and an avid drinker of our best, the bastard) ... the Prop has been kind enough to be his friend since 1968, Otago University, and well remembers Syd’s first of many rash pronouncements at that time (“Impressionism is shit!”) ... he is also a good keen man when it comes to music (the Prop and Syd have gone far too late far too often arguing about songs) and what is more is a pretty fine uke player, having had a Kamaka concert ukulele given to him by yours truly ... the jams, the jams ... Let’s give a big Two Paddocks cheer for our friend, our neighbour, our old mucker ... he’s dry as a biscuit and very funny ... we rate him here in the Dayglo ... give it UP for ...Mr ... Grahame SYDNEY!>>

TP Blog 2011

Here are several posts from last year. To see the whole year of musings from the Prop, follow this link>>>. Or read all our news from the last eleven years via the menu on the left of this page.

29 December 2011

Roses Are Red

Violets are violet, whatever they tell you.

One of the enduring legacies at our main vineyard, Redbank, from the days when it was a government research farm for horticulture, are several astounding rows of roses.

They look humble enough, but their aroma is almost overpowering. They  are in fact scent roses, old fashioned varieties bred not really for their appearance, but to be used for perfume. Pretty heavenly.

28 December 2011

Team TP Top Ten #46

Peter and Margaret Lehmann, Vignerons, Peter Lehmann Wines

Ladies and Gentlemen! Settle down at the back, we know you are excited about tonight's DJs, and why wouldn’t you be, and as a lot of you are Australian, it’s going to get noisy ... BUT we have, very unusually for the Dayglo, some cultured people playing their grooves live and ... yes, I said CULTURED ... (blimey, some of the sorts Security are letting through lately) ... so a bit of bloody HUSH would be in order. Yes, that means you too.

Kev ... thank you!

So, tonight, flown in by Two Paddocks Virtual Airways First Class (The kind of service you can only fantasize about when you are on B.A.) two people we love and admire here at TPHQ more than we can say ... yes the familiar avuncular presence on my right is of course the one and only Peter Lehmann, widely known as the Baron Of Barossa ... an awkward sobriquet we admit given Peter and Margaret’s firmly lefty inclinations, but one that indicates just a fraction of the mana and affection with which he is held in that beautiful corner of Australia, in the Australian wine world, and of course here at TPHQ, where he is held in awe and spoken about in hushed tones. We like to gather around the TP fire at night and tell stories of how Peter virtually singlehandedly and heroically risked all to save the wine growers of Barossa in the late 70s, early 80s, and at the same time chancing his arm, and leg too, in setting up the distinguished firm of Peter Lehmann, makers of some of the world’s greatest Shiraz, Riesling and Semillon. Respect!

And on my left, one of The Great Women, and unquestionably a Great Australian ... the irrepressible, the hilarious, the socially committed, the fascinating, the hospitable, the outrageous, the thrillingly subversive,  the other half of a great partnership ... the wonderful Margaret Lehmann.

Here they are, making their way up to the stage, about the best damn couple we know ... a big warm welcome for the amazing Peter and Margaret Lehmann!!>>>