Harvest Report 2022

I’ve been out tasting and sampling our vineyards over the last few days for maturity – measuring the accumulating sugar, the acid balance and also monitoring disease pressure. It looks like we might kick-off with a small amount of Chardonnay around the week of the 14th, which is exciting! Pinot Noir will be coming in a close second, with much of the Sauvignon Blanc looking like it will be late March, early April, which is slightly later than the previous few years.

The growing season has been quite the ride so far – significant rainfall in winter and early spring gave the vines a massive head start and we all felt like we were chasing our tails in to December to keep up with vine growth. December and January were hot and dry – deviating from the La Ninã weather pattern New Zealand was in. An ex-tropical cyclone paid a visit at the start of February which had everyone on the edge of their seats as veraison was really kicking in, but the ground was parched and soaked it up pretty quickly.

The fruit set has been super favourable compared to last year and we’re grateful for this! We have been working hard to ensure we’re aiming for quality though, and have dropped excess fruit and hand leaf plucked to keep the vines in balance and give plenty of airflow to keep disease pressure low. We’re going to see the benefits of this as we see warmer, summer like temperatures again for the next couple of weeks which will bump ripening along.

All our 2021 wines are in bottle, other than our single vineyard Sound of White Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which is still sitting quietly in barrel until we blend and bottle in June. We all wait in anticipation now as the vines enter their final stretch before harvesting and getting a well-earned break. I think all involved in the industry will need the same once everything is off the vine and quietly fermenting in tank.

Cheers to a safe and happy harvest ahead!