EVERY BUNCH A WINNER

When winemakers are smiling at this time of year, you know the grape harvest is going well. “We’ve had ideal weather, a typically golden Martinborough autumn and that means great grapes” is the consensus about the 2016 vintage.
It’s a typical Martinborough golden autumn, with calm sunny days and cool nights. The combination – diurnal range if you want to get technical – allows flavours to develop slowly and evenly, producing smooth depth of flavour.
The grapes love these conditions as much as the residents do.

Around November at fruit set time there was quite a bit of wind, and a late frost in some areas. Ata Rangi Business Manager Pete Monk said “we dropped quite a bit of fruit then, aiming for quality, and it has really paid off. The fruit ripened early so we picked earlier than usual, and it’s brilliant fruit. Every bunch a winner!”

Larry McKenna (Escarpment Vineyard) describes this as “an exceptional year”. It’s been very dry, I believe the driest in the country, and while there are varietal variations the fruit is all healthy with good flavour. Yield is slightly up on last year, and this makes Martinborough’s fourth really good vintage in a row,” he reported.

Out in Dry River Road, Lisa Coney (winemaker at Coney Wines) says the fruit is “absolutely beautiful”. The calm dry weather means the Coney team has been able to pick when the grapes are in optimal condition, and “not because it’s going to rain. We have really good flavours and good yields,” she said with a smile. “I’ll stick my neck out and say this is a stellar year”.
Wines from Martinborough chairman Jeremy Corban (Big Sky Wines) echoed that sentiment, but commented that “in Te Muna Road the cool spring led to lower yields for some, but the great summer and autumn means we are really happy with the quality of the fruit. We are looking forward to some standout wines from the 2016 vintage,” he concluded.