News & Events

Vintage 2010 High on Quality, Low on Quantity

8/06/2010 2:44:01 p.m.
Too much of a good thing..?

The long dry summer of 2010 should have had winemakers on Waiheke Island smiling from ear to ear. The total rainfall over the four months leading up to harvest was less tham 50mm with an almost total absence of humidity or strong winds. Chris Canning, The Hay Paddock winemaker, had not seen such a perfect grape ripening period in the 35 years since he first planted vines in New Zealand. So will 2010 prove to be the vintage of a lifetime?
Not necessarily, it seems!
Cold winds in November and early December interrupted the flowering in some of the Syrah clones more than others, resulting in a light fruit set and a drop in yields of up to 30%. "That impacts dramatically on economic returns," complains Chris, "and consumers have little sympathy for winegrowers' complaints about costs."
So will the quality be sufficient to justify higher prices?
"That isn't entirely clear cut," according to Chris. "We like a long, cool hang time for Syrah because the intensity of flavour and aroma development relies upon it. If the temperatures are too high through the last 10 to 14 days of veraison we can get sugar levels rising too fast and acid levels dropping without phenolic ripening being completed. We believe we have achieved our objective this year but we would have preferred lower alcohol levels. Now the trick is going to be how we handle that wine in barrel. It will undoubtedly be a big wine but we don't want it to be overpowering. With Syrah big is not necessarily beautiful."
So, we'll have to wait and see.

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