Quality over volume in harvest

 Wine Marlborough says Vintage 2015 is winding down for most of the region, with only a small amount of fruit left to be harvested. 

Chairman Clive Jones, who is winemaker at Nautilus Estate, says the estate wrapped up its harvest on the evening of Easter Monday. 

“For us it was a slow start with sparkling and pinot, but it was certainly a rushed finish.  

“We picked all our sauvignon blanc in a record 14 days and had our second earliest finish. Yields were certainly way down on last year and generally closer to our targets than caps. For us sauvignon blanc yielded between 10 and 13.4 tonnes per hectare.

Clive quotes the saying that if yields are down then quality should be up, and he says it appears that is the case this year.

“Across all varieties we are delighted with the fruit concentration and flavour spectrum. We have fragrant pinot gris, bright tropical sauvignon, svelte pinot noir and chardonnay that is untouched in barrel, just doing its own thing. 

“Smaller volumes will mean reduced margins for both growers and wineries but I would much rather take vintage 2015 over vintage 2014.  A smaller volume of quality wine to send to the market place is a much stronger message from Marlborough and should bring stocks into balance prior to vintage 2016.”

Wine Marlborough says it would like to hear vintage reports from wineries in the district. Details can be emailed to emily@wine-marlborough.co.nz. 

Caption: Picture (top) supplied by Whitehaven Wines and (above) Jules Taylor Wine.