increase font size
The first grapes of the 2012 New Zealand grape harvest have been picked in northern regions amid high hopes for this vintage, which has started later than recent years.
"Like much of New Zealand, many of our grape growing regions have the experienced a slightly cooler summer this year. This means a longer, slower ripening period for vintage 2012, but it should mean good flavours in the grapes" says New Zealand Winegrowers chief executive officer Philip Gregan.
"The weather has also impacted the flowering and fruit set in some regions, reducing the size of the crop as a result. At this stage, based on our recent Pre-Vintage Survey of wineries, our current estimate is for a harvest of around 300,000 tonnes of grapes, down from the record 328,000 tonnes in 2011."
Gregan says pre-vintage estimates of crop size are not an exact science.
"With the variable crops that wineries have reported, this makes crop estimation more difficult than normal. Accordingly, the harvest could be up to 20,000 tonnes smaller or larger than our current estimate."
Gregan said growers and wineries were hoping for a typical New Zealand autumn to deliver the final quality flourish to the vintage. "The next six to eight weeks will be all important in determining a high quality outcome for the vintage. In recent years our wine regions have benefited from some superb 'Indian summers' and we are very hopeful this will repeated in 2012.
Sustainably managing powdery mildew on grape vines has taken another step forward, with Hawke's Bay company Greencollar NZ collaborating with Agri Automation to trial an ultraviolet light prototype unit on its table grape vineyard.
The fight for global customers by fruit producers and marketers is on.
With a backdrop of COVID-19, this has been a harvest like no other.
The small, intense berries of Marlborough’s 2019 Pinot Noir vintage were a blessing for some and a blow for others.
Busy, busy, busy. The countdown is on for the first vintage of the new decade and the one thing we can guarantee is it will be the best of the decade - so far, of course.
Tractor manufacturer and distributor Case IH has announced a new partnership with Meet the Need, the grassroots, farmer-led charity working to tackle food insecurity across New Zealand one meal at a time.
The DairyNZ Farmers Forum is back with three events - in Waikato, Canterbury and Southland.
To celebrate 25 years of the Hugh Williams Memorial Scholarship, Ravensdown caught up with past recipients to see where their careers have taken them, and what the future holds for the industry.
Among this year’s Primary Industry NZ (PINZ) Awards finalists are a Southlander who created edible bale netting and rural New Zealanders who advocate for pragmatic regulation and support stressed out farmers.
Rockit Global has appointed Ivan Angland as its new chief operating officer as it continues its growth strategy into 2025.
Nominations are now open for the Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) board.
