2007 Vintage Report

The 2006/2007 season started off with a warm and dry August and September leading to budburst in the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir by the 17th of September and a week later in the Sauvignon Blanc. Budburst was even throughout all varieties and, due to the excellent weather the previous December, pre-flowering bunch counts indicated higher than average tonnages.

Up until the 10th of November the weather was warm and the vineyards growth was ahead of the long term average, however a series of frosts at this time caused a little shoot damage and growth to slow down. From then the cool spring weather delayed flowering by 7 to 10 days and, although the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir set well, the coldest December since the 1940’s resulted in poor and uneven set in the Sauvignon Blanc reducing the potential crop.

The cold inclement weather continued through January and early February and with the low degree days we were looking at a late start to the vintage till the weather did another u-turn in mid February and we returned to warm dry conditions. The vines with their reduced crop levels quickly caught up the lost ground and by mid March we were ready to start harvest with excellent looking fruit throughout all blocks. The Indian summer continued thru March and April allowing us to harvest each block at optimum ripeness and no disease pressure. 

2006 Vintage Report

The 2005 growing season got off to an early start in mid September with even budburst for the early varieties of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Sauvignon Blanc followed 10 days later due to the average temperatures being 1.3 degrees above the long term average (LTA). These warmer temperatures continued through to the end of December and with careful irrigation we had healthy shoot growth; and low disease pressure due to rainfall being only 60 % of the LTA.

The main period of flowering for Sauvignon Blanc occurred during the week of the 3rd-9th Dec. The average temperature this week was 18.4 degrees or 1 .7 degrees above the LTA resulting in excellent pollination and set. While daytime temperatures were average for the months of January and February the night temperatures stayed warm and the fruit continued to mature earlier than normal.

Harvest kicked off with Chardonnay on the13th March closely followed by Pinot Noir. The aromatic varieties were next and Sauvignon Blanc was right on their tail. Harvesting finished on the 24th March – 2 weeks before we had even started in 2005.

What really stood out this year was how well balanced the vines were and how clean the fruit was - the cleanest I have seen in my 15 years in Marlborough.

Consequently the grapes were concentrated with clearly defined fruit flavours. The resultant wines show great promise with excellent acid and alcohol balance and brilliant pure fruit characters.

2004/2005 Vintage Report

The 2004 growing season started off well with average temperatures and above average rainfall in September, October and November giving even budburst and healthy shoot growth. December however was the 5th coldest on record with temperatures 2 degrees below the long term average. This combined with above average rainfall of 69mm affected flowering and fruit-set, reducing the crop potential. 2005 commenced with the cooler wetter conditions continuing before February bucked the trend being dryer and warmer than usual and allowed the vine development to catch up. Rain at the start of March lifted the disease pressure but through leaf plucking and canopy management we were able to avoid botrytis infection and when the Indian summer arrived from Mid March we were well positioned to take advantage of the long cool ripening period and harvested grapes with concentrated and intense varietal character.