There have been equal numbers of unsettled-weather vintages, and 2008 was one of those. But this year seemed different from most of the unsettled, uneven-numbered years going back from 2003 to1995.
When it is considered that Matakana is in reality a small geographical area, the extent of the variability in 2008 seems to have been quite marked. In our own vineyard we decided not to pick one of our red varieties because of weather-induced problems with the fruit, while most other reds were very good and the whites were as good as any of our previous 12 vintages, both in quality and ripeness as well as quantity.
The opposite of this pattern was experienced by some of our winegrower colleagues, which might seem strange. But there is a logic behind these apparent inconsistencies. A number of factors, including minor weather variations within the region during the immediate pre-harvest period, differing resistance between varieties to inclement conditions, slightly varying ripening times for different varieties and clones of varieties, and of course the effect of different vineyards and viticultural practices, all play a part.
That such a large combination of variables would produce such apparently inconsistent results should be no surprise.
So you can be sure that while not everything was great this year, we will again see some excellent Matakana wines from 2008. The one thing we all shared in common was a good deal of warm, dry and settled weather, especially in January and March. So those who were relatively unscathed by some of the intervening weather will be feeling pretty good right now about what they have in tank and barrel from vintage 2008.
Robin Ransom
President, Matakana Winegrowers Inc.
robin@ransomwines.co.nz
Originally published in Mahurangi Matters June 2008
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