NZ: Good wine tipped despite late harvest
NZ: Good wine tipped despite late harvest
Apr 12, 2012 6
(Stuff) - Wairarapa winemakers are breathing a sigh of relief after a sunny Easter finally allowed the harvest to get under way.
Many Martinborough and Gladstone vineyards started picking grapes this week, much later than usual after a cool, wet summer meant the fruit was slow to ripen.
But while the lack of sunshine will make for lower yields – and higher prices – winemakers are confident they can still produce a top-quality drop.
"It's not going to be a blockbuster year like we had in 2003, where we had a really hot summer," said Kai Schubert, of Schubert Wines.
"But I remember the 2004 vintage was a very cold summer with a late harvest, and that summer, while not going down in the history books as a top year, we made some fantastic, elegant pinots."
Workers had hand-picked white wine varieties, including chardonnay, at Mr Schubert's Martinborough vineyard on Tuesday, and yesterday started picking pinot noir grapes at a Gladstone plot.
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