Haere Ra 2024: Waitaki
Te Kano Winemaker Dave Sutton looks at an excellent growing season against the pressure of competing land use.
The Good: A settled flowering period led to strong and even fruit set across most varieties. Pinot Noir showed excellent bunch architecture, and yields were strong. Unfortunately, this led to tighter bunches with more debris trapped inside, leading me to....
The Bad: Disease pressure playing a significant role in picking decisions this season, with botrytis prevalent throughout the region. Tight bunches with plenty of flower debris allowed for botrytis to make an impact on all varieties. Turning lemons into lemonade though, this high botrytis incidence led to....
The Awesome: Conditions for making noble wines meant some of the best dry botrytis I’ve seen outside of Germany being turned into some incredible nectar. The strong run of awards for Waitaki wines also continued, with a Waitaki
Pinot Noir taking out the trophies for Best New Zealand Red Wine and Best New Zealand Pinot Noir at the 2025 International Wine Challenge.
