Vintage 2024: Gisborne
"I'm walking through the winery at the moment and the smells in there are just bloody amazing," says GisVin Chief Winemaker Mark Thompson early on 12 March.
The 2021 harvest was the latest in a run of kind harvests for Gisborne, says Matawhero owner Kirsten Searle.
"The last hard vintage was back in 2012, so Mother Nature has been kind to us," she says, looking back over the latest season of benign weather, close to average yields and quality fruit.
The season started around 22 February, which is the earliest harvest she has experienced in 20 years on the land, beating last year's already early start by three or four days. "The region did have a decent frost this sprin which was interesting," says Kirsten, of the biggest frost event they have seen in the region for many years. It "tickled up" a few vineyards, although Matawhero was largely unscathed. And the vines rallied, with crops across the region only slightly down, says Kirsten. "It was pretty much average for us in terms of yields across the board."
Low disease pressure and good sunshine, with just one rain event during harvest, made for "good ripeness and good acid and pH balance at picking, she says. "It's a good vintage, with wines that with cellar reasonably well."
As well as enjoying vintage conditions, Gisborne wine companies with cellar doors are enjoying the boost in tourism caused by Covid-19. People who might otherwise winter in Europe are exploring the East Coast, along with its wineries, she says. "People are starting to come back and are reconnecting with the East Coast and Gisborne wines."
OPINION: Harvest begins, and almost immediately we start to get media enquiries about how the vintage is going and whether it…
OPINION: Rachael Cook is the smiling grape grower on this month’s cover, tending vines on the miniscule, beautiful and dream-driven vineyard…
New Zealand wine enthusiasts have a deepening understanding and growing appreciation of sparkling wine, says Mel Skinner, Chair of Méthode Marlborough…
One of the biggest mistakes wine marketers make is in assuming consumers are as passionate and knowledgeable about wine as…
Taking two sustainability awards at two events on a single evening felt like "true recognition" of the work Lawson's Dry…