23 Jun 2005 -
Vintage 2005 - Matt's Rant
Matt’s Rant – June 2005
Well another season
completed here at Mt Difficulty and as always the weather presented a few
challenges which I delve further into in the Vintage 2005 roundup.
We are
releasing our 2004 Chardonnay and 2004 Roaring Meg Pinot Noir on the 1st
July. 2004 wasn’t the easiest of seasons in Central with frosts and cooler
weather wreaking havoc on some vineyards. We were lucky to escape the brunt of
the damage and are exceptionally pleased with the wines that we have
produced. The Pinots have a little of
everything in them with some of the richness and plumpness of the 2002s and a
little of the sauvage of 2000, an interesting mix! The
whites from 2004 were all of stellar quality and I feel that this Chardonnay is
in the same vein, great fruit, minimal oak intervention, lots of funk from full
solids ferments and lees contact with a good mineral acid backbone – yummy!
Vintage 2005 –Round up
The
Vineyard - The
Weather Gods both malignant and benign?
The weather
during the summer of 2005 as always played a major part in the quantity and
quality of our vintage. Nervous times during October and November with a few
runs of the wind machines on Manson and Long Gully just to make sure that there
were no cob webs, but we managed to get through without starting the machines
in anger. Then the miserable weather during the latter half of November and the
month of December played a crucial role in defining the volume and timing of
fruit for vintage 2005. After a
lighter than usual crop in 2004, it was likely that this was going to be a
heavier year – as long as we got through bud-break with no frost, flowering
with no rain, ripening with little rain, and again no frost until after harvest.
The timing and success of fruit set over the key flowering period of December
is dependent upon fine weather. With the lack of heat and the increase in
rainfall, flowering wasn’t at its most successful this season.Luckily for
us the rest of summer conformed to what we love about summer in Central and we
received plenty of sunshine and heat for the balance of the season. We did have
more rainfall than usual over the summer period with a shower through every two
weeks or so. This merely reduced our reliance on irrigation and we were able to
give irrigation systems some rest! The rainfall dried up at the right time and
autumn was its usual benign self, allowing final ripening and harvest to
proceed smoothly.
As a result
of the poor flowering yields were significantly lower than we would typically
achieve; managing only 2-4 tonnes per hectare (0.8-1.6 tonnes per acre). This
did mean that we were able to fully ripen and harvest fairly close to a normal
harvest start of the first week of April.
The Winery
Our
variable climate has the effect of presenting us with fruit that is never
exactly the same from year to year. With the conditions described above – we
were left wondering what Vintage 2005 was going to bring.The first ferment
of vintage is always a learning curve; we treat it fairly generically relative
to how we think that the fruit/wine is going to unfold. With the very low
yields we had this year it quickly became apparent that both colour and structure
were going to be excellent. A few tweaks in winery equipment this past season
gave us the ability to manage ferments more accurately from a temperature point
of view; meaning that we were able to have 90% native ferments with only the
first one or two being inoculated. This natural view of ferments can help with
complexity in the wine. Fruit flavours and concentration evolved daily with the
wines gaining in stature. We are thrilled with the concentration and intensity which
we have sitting in the cellar. We were
extremely pleased with the fruit which we received; the grapes were in
excellent condition, while yields were light we think that we have finished off
admirably the fruit we were given by Robin and his team.
We have a
busy schedule coming up with visits to the US, UK, Australia, Denmark all
scheduled as well as a few tastings scattered around NZ, so hopefully we will
catch up with some old friends and also make a few new ones.
The Central
Otago Pinot Noir Celebration committee have announced that the next celebration
will be held over the 26th and 27th January 2006, so if
you thinking about a visit to Central maybe try then as it a great couple of
days. If you need further information contact the winery and we will ensure
that you are sent a registration pack.
If you are
coming down for a spot of skiing or just cruising through Central make sure
that you drop in to see us at the cellar door to try a few wines and maybe have
a spot of lunch. We look forward to seeing you here.
Cheers
Matt Dicey
Winemaker
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