It’s harder than it looks. Watched by Martinborough Vineyard winemaker Paul Mason, a member of a visiting group of Wellington wine trade people has a try at plunging the grape skins back down into the juice.
Martinborough wine producers are breathing collective sighs of relief thanks to autumn harvest weather that has delivered six weeks of clear skies and warming sunshine and with it, the promise of some excellent wines.
The summer growing season of January to March had been disappointing with low sunshine hours, low heat units and frequent rain. Despite the cooler summer, local winemakers have expressed their confidence in the 2012 vintage based on the quality and level of ripening of the fruit. ??Paul Mason, winemaker at Martinborough Vineyard explains. “It is in the challenging years that Martinborough comes to the fore. Indications are that this year’s harvest will continue the tradition of Martinborough’s well balanced, elegant wines with finesse.”
Murdoch James Estate’s Nicola Belsham concurs. “The dry autumn weather was perfect, particularly for Pinot Noir. The long sunshine hours and calm weather meant that the grapes were able to stay on the vine longer, enabling the flavours to build up without the grapes overheating, allowing the subtle flavours of Pinot to come through, producing a rare balance of fruit ripeness and acidity.”
Volumes vary across the district due to weather at the time of fruit set, but overall are down on a typical year. For many wineries this may have started as a disappointment but has proved to be a blessing with the lower yields enabling fruit to fully ripen. A number of the winemakers have compared this season to 2010 which also had a cool summer followed by lovely long autumn, and resulted in an excellent vintage.
Harvest began for most local producers in the second week of April, over two weeks later than normal. It is now almost complete with just some late-harvest Riesling still to come in. While the quantity of the 2012 vintage is well below average, the quality is looking great, with many expressing delight in the flavours of the Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc in particular. Although the Chardonnays are still fermenting, opinions are that they too look very promising.
Photo caption; It’s harder than it looks. Watched by Martinborough Vineyard winemaker Paul Mason, a member of a visiting group of Wellington wine trade people has a try at plunging the grape skins back down into the juice.
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