The making of a wine region
Steve Harrop, author of The Three Harrops - an update, sent this report last week on the 2010 vintage in the fledging wine region of Waitaki in New Zealand. Interesting to follow the far-from-steady progress of such a marginal spot.
The 2010 vintage has been a mysterious and unpredictable one with the most nervous budburst and kick off we have ever seen in the Waitaki. The buds burst across most sites as normal in October but very low temperatures and frosts across the various vineyards saw marginal damage in the sloping sites and little damage in those sites with fans or water protection.
Exposed vineyards had to resort to expensive helicopters and those without the facilities were quite badly burned. This frost period was followed by an unseasonably cool October and November, which resulted in very slow growth in both established and newly planted vines.
Vineyards that had reduced shoot numbers or pruned to single or shorter canes saw the vines moving a little better but on the whole growers were extremely nervous about the canopies going into December flowering. To add insult to injury, the local pest we call the bronze beetle flew in biblical proportions, giving the fragile new shoots another setback. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!
Flowering started in the second week of December but stalled due to the cool conditions. It was clear and dry, but there were some very cold snaps that left the vines confused about flowering and as a result some vineyards saw patchy and uneven fruit set. The exception this year seems to be the Hakateramea vineyard site, where the elevation and protection from the cooler conditions saw an excellent even set across the clones and varieties in the 12-hectare Pasquale vineyard.
Post flowering saw cool, dry conditions continue through until mid January. The vines finally saw some real Waitaki Valley heat at the end of January, on through February, and into March. The canopies had a fantastic recovery, making up for the growth lost in the early season. Near-perfect growing conditions - warm dry days and cooler but mild nights - have continued up until the present. We are still playing catch up as far as growing degree days go, but growers are optimistic.
It will be touch and go whether a lot of the cooler sites get the fruit over the line, and ripeness will be the defining character in the Waitaki 2010 wines - especially the Pinots. The Hakateramea wines will fly a positive flag as long as they avoid late-season pre-harvest frosts.
All in all the season is still open to the risk of frost but the late-growing canopies are still very much functional under the nets - another four weeks of this Indian summer we are enjoying at the moment and you might see a few smiles on growers' faces. For the moment it's still as chancy as a day at the races!
One real positive was the Royal Easter Show results: the first bag of medals for the region and the region's first winery getting a gold - see press release below.