First grapes picked for season

SCOTT HAMMOND Picking begins: Dawn breaks over a harvester picking pinot noir from Hunter's Wines' The Bridge Vineyard near Renwick this morning

The growl of harvesters welcomed the new day this morning as the grape harvest began for Hunter's Wines.

Hunter's Wines viticulturist Bryan Vickery was up at 4am for the start of the company's 30th vintage.

They picked about 14 tonnes of pinot noir grapes for Hunter's sparkling wines.

Warm weather in December and January sped things up this year, allowing the harvest to begin about 10 days earlier than last year, Mr Vickery said.

This year's crop was looking like a large one, but it had been managed as much as possible since pruning to keep tonnages down, he said.

Hunter's target was to crop 900 to 1000 tonnes of grapes from its 50 hectares of vineyard and 40 hectares of contract vines this year.

An average of 10 tonnes a hectare of sauvignon blanc would be taken, which was the standard that wine companies were aiming for this year, he said.

Maintaining the excellent quality of this year's fruit depended on the weather from here on, he said.

"We don't really want too much rain between now and the next six to eight weeks. The long-term weather forecast says it's meant to be between average and below-average rainfall, but you never know."

Rain was expected tomorrow so they would probably continue harvesting on Thursday before leaving the rest till next week, he said. After the bubbly varieties were picked, there would be a gap of 10 to 14 days before the harvest of table wine fruit.

Pernod Ricard plans to start harvest on Monday and continue non-stop until the end of harvesting table wines.

Pernod regional viticulturist Andrew Naylor said it would depend what Mother Nature threw at Marlborough.

However, he expected most of the fruit to be picked by Easter, which begins on April 22.

"I work on the principle that Marlborough generally turns out all right in the end."

Nautilus Estate viticulturist Mike Collins said harvest of sparkling wine pinot noir would begin on Thursday, about a week ahead of last year.

Conditions were good and the fruit was looking healthy, he said.

The winery was taking a total of 1300 tonnes this year, the maximum capacity of its tanks.

Vineyards had been thinned and growers had been told there would be no room for excess fruit, he said.

The company owns 72 hectares of vineyard and has the same area under contract growers.

Ten tonnes a hectare for sauvignon blanc was the planned crop, with a slightly higher 12 tonnes for its second-tier label, he said.

Pinot noir for table wine would be picked about the last week of March, while sauvignon blanc would be taken around the first week of April, he said.