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Vintage is underway (or just about) around the country. I contacted winemakers from each wine region to see how things were shaping up for them and their region in general. There are still a few regions to come through but here is the first round. I will keep in touch with the wineries as vintage progresses and let you know how 2010 finishes up. It’s great to hear the early reports and views and see how that evolves through to the wines getting in bottle. These comments are as of Friday 19 March.

Here is 2010 Vintage Review: Part 1

Martinborough – Ata Rangi Vineyard
“Well this season is a tricky one.  Cool December then cool overcast days in January have delayed ripening by about two to three weeks.  The second half of February saw some lovely warm days and cool nights.  It is going to be how the season finishes; a long dry autumn would result in classic wines with bright fruit characters with good acidity.  It really is a waiting game.” – Cheers, Helen Masters, Winemaker

Central Otago – Peregrine
Well, it’s been another very interesting vintage down here for sure. I am sure that after 23 vintages down here that I still haven’t seen two of the same and this one is definitely not following any pattern.

We had a really slow start to the season with a cool and wet spring which was initially having a few growers and wineries wondering when it would ever stop but stop it did around about mid December. This meant that the flowering in the Cromwell Basin vineyards was a little bit extended whereas the Gibbston vineyards went through the flowering in much warmer and settled weather so much quicker.

The wetter start to the season has, since Xmas proved to be a massive bonus to the health of the vineyards as this has allowed the vines access to moisture during the very hot and dry Jan/Feb that would normally have put them under certain stress. Rain over the whole ground is much more accessible than drip irrigation can ever be.

So coming into vintage they are looking in a pretty happy state. I think the whole region is about a week behind last year with an expected first day of vintage for Peregrine to be the 6th of April. Fingers crossed for a classic long autumn.

Cheers, Greg Hay 
 
Waitaki – Ostler Vineyards
Like the rest of the South Island (The whole country?) the season is running late in the Waitaki, after a very cold spring and first half of summer.  There was good warmth in September which made the vines excited, but then persisting cold with westerly quarter winds right up until mid-January slowing shoot development and flowering.. Thus veraison has not yet completed in most of the vineyards.  There is some nice fruit, and again, at Ostler, we have a crop with bunches of mostly small berries.  Winemakers love this phenomenon which we also had last year resulting in our best pinot to date (high surface area to volume ratio equals lots of skin for maximum flavour concentration).

So we look to a very late harvest with a smallish crop of concentrated wine.
Best regards, Jim Jerram

Waipara – Pegasus Bay
Hello, we have not started harvest yet.  We think we will start in the second week of April.  This will put us about on average with previous years.
 
Certainly the summer was cool, not a lot of rain but many overcast days.  Luckily the last 5 weeks have been superb weather and has allowed us to catch up on ripening.  We still have a few weeks to go, but am hoping for dry days which are not too hot or too cold.  Too hot leads to shrivel and loss of acidity and obviously too cold and we will not ripen the fruit.
 
The last analysis we did put the ripening of the Pinot in line with the 2006 vintage, which for us was an excellent year, so fingers crossed it continues in this way.

Thanks
Regards, Lynnette Hudson, Winemaker