28 Oct 2008 -

2008 Vintage Report

Viticulture

The growing season was close to ideal right from the beginning. Initially we were actually a little concerned that yields might again be on the light side as the poor weather during the previous December had meant that our bunch numbers were quite low. However spring was warm with slightly less wind than normal, ideal flowering conditions. In fact, flowering was maybe too good and we went from being concerned that we would have too little fruit to being concerned that we might have too much! Robin, Alison and the Grapevision team spent a phenomenal amount of time assessing our likely yields and really focussing on managing these yields to our desired levels. They did an awesome job and our yields ended up only 10-15% over our targets. At the same time they continued to push our viticultural boundaries and managed the vines with as little water input as possible during the crucial growing part of the season. This reduction in watering lead to nicely balanced canopies on the whole, with little need to trim or leaf pluck. We experienced an old school summer and autumn which has lifted the ripeness level of all the wines onto the next plane of ripeness.

Vintage

With the amazing summer that we had, we were anticipating an early beginning to vintage. This indeed occurred with our first fruit coming into the winery just before Easter. We then had a cool spell and a lay period of about a week prior to really kicking vintage off. The order of harvest was a little unusual this year – we began by harvesting Riesling and a young block of Pinot Noir, before moving onto Sauvignon Blanc and a few other blocks of Pinot. We then mowed through the bulk of the Pinot Gris and Riesling before bringing in the majority of the Pinot Noir.

Grape condition was great, with very little variability or shrivel. As is often the case given the dry conditions in Central Otago, we had no botrytis at all.

The whites have displayed a very high degree of flavour ripeness. We have also had fairly normal acidities, while concentration and varietal definition are excellent. The Sauvignon Blanc has its usual blend of contrasting ripeness levels - some lovely tropical flavours with an undercurrent of herbal character. We again have three Rieslings styles this year and all are slightly riper fruit flavoured with slightly higher acidities than typical – we have again left slightly more residual sugar to balance the Target Gully Riesling. The Pinot Gris is continuing to evolve with classic white peach and nectarine characters becoming hallmarks.

The 2008 Pinot Noirs and Chardonnay are currently in barrel for bottling in autumn of 2009. The Chardonnay is looking very promising. It is again showing slightly riper flavours and good acidities, and most barrels appear to have gone dry.

The 2008 Pinot Noirs are looking excellent, with a combination of ripe flavours and good acidities. If they are lacking anything it is mid palate weight and texture, and we are trying to build these into the wines by giving extended skin contact where possible. Overall 2008 is another very promising vintage.