On the 30th of March 2012, we started our harvest. The first grapes picked were from St. Martin Vineyards from Martinborough. Perfect ripe Chardonnay grapes at sugar levels of around 12,7 % vol alc. for our Methode Traditionelle. Some very ripe berries even had sugar levels up to 26 Brix.
So far, the season has been one of the coolest in our history. With only just around 600 hours of sunshine compared to normal 1400 hours the season is very late and ripeness levels way behind normal. Here… you can find an article on stuff.co.nz.
So the last weeks we have been spending our time cutting down grapes to ensure perfect ripening of the remaining grapes.
This week we also picked our Pinot Noir for a Methode Traditionelle. The yield was around 3.5 tons from 1.25 hectares. That is very very low…
Unfortunately, the weather at harvest is not helping us a lot. With southeasterlies and southerlies bringing in some rain the odd bunch has already some Botrytis infection. But it all remains in calm conditions and there is no need to panic…
As you can see, there are are still many wonderful sain grapes ripening happily…
