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
[ add comment ] ( 9 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 383 )Vintage in Matakana is now in full swing. Teams of grape pickers are sweeping across the hillsides snipping the season’s bounty from the vines, which is then collected by tractors and trailers carting the overflowing bins of luscious sweet grapes to the winery, where the bunches may be further sorted before being juiced and then pumped away to fermenting tanks.
But how do we decide when the vintage starts? In order to maximize wine quality the grapes need to have reached a certain level of development on the vine. This is determined by a set of precise measurements and observations. When you have been growing wine grapes for a while, you get a reasonably accurate idea from taste alone, of when they are ready for winemaking. Grapes are very palatable to eat some weeks before this, but at this stage respective levels of sugar and acid will make a rather thin and sour wine, with a low level of alcohol.
Taste alone is not generally good enough. The when-to-pick decision for most of us is made after we have collected a sample of grapes, examined the pips and stems, juiced the fruit, measured the sugar level, either by refractometer or hydrometer, measured the pH, then measured the level of acidity using a laboratory process called titration, which involves progressively adding an alkaline solution to the juice until it raises the pH to a particular level. The amount of alkali added is the measure of how much acid is in the fruit. In popular mythology the sugar level or “brix” is considered the key determinant, but getting the acid down is just as critical as getting the sugar up, possibly more so with red wines.
It is particularly important that the test sample is thoroughly representative of the area to be picked, because not every bunch or every berry within a bunch is at the same level of development. Some are well exposed to the sun and will be advanced in their ripeness, while others will be partially or fully shaded by leaves, and others will be in rows near shelter belts which may mean they receive less sun and will be less ripe. So the criterion for picking is the average ripeness of the complete area to be picked.
When to pick may be complicated by what the weather is doing or has done in the recent past, so for example significant rain events around this time can cause consternation and gnashing of teeth. And after the picking decision is taken the winemaker immediately has a range of other issues to consider and decisions to make, but that is another subject…..
Robin Ransom
President, Matakana Winegrowers Inc.
robin@ransomwines.co.nz
Originally published in Mahurangi Matters, April 2008
[ add comment ] ( 9 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 361 )Summer of 2008 has to date been like the summers we all fondly remember – warm and sunny, dry and golden. These are the sorts of summers which holiday-makers and grape growers dream of, and the kids can go back to school with the satisfaction of having had a great holiday season.
We also had a relatively warm and dry late winter and spring. This sort of weather in the second half of the year means that the bird population can thrive. If large numbers of birds survive the cooler months there are more of them around to breed through spring and summer. We now have more thrushes and blackbirds than I can recall and the small bird population in general seems to have flourished.
Native birds are not generally a problem but small birds of European origin just love grapes. In a dry summer they love them long before they are ripe, because they are a ready source of moisture when other sources are scarce. Birds can strip a vineyard in no time at all. Thrushes and blackbirds take whole berries, but silvereyes and finches peck holes in them, which creates an ideal environment for fungal diseases to flourish. So we are having to take our annual defensive measures earlier than usual.
There is a range of defensive methods. Some involve noise – such as guns, gas bangers, noisy motorbikes tearing up and down the rows, or high pitched electronic noise which only birds detect. Others involve visual deterrents – scarecrows, kites, balloons and wind streamers. In Marlborough winegrowers are experimenting with trained native falcons.
But generally the most effective defence is to erect a physical barrier - netting. Nets are expensive to buy, time-consuming to deploy, easy to damage, and effective only if coverage is complete and seamless. If not you can sometimes wander into the vineyard and see a net aviary full of grape-stuffed birds. But the cost and inconvenience of netting are minor costs to pay for the peace of mind of knowing that your vines are not being plundered by rapacious avian burglars.
So when you see nets being draped over the hills in the next little while, I trust you will feel more sympathy for the winegrowers than for the birds!
Robin Ransom
President, Matakana Winegrowers Inc.
robin@ransomwines.co.nz.
Originally published in Mahurangi Matters, February 2008
[ add comment ] ( 9 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 360 )Early summer in the vineyard is an interesting time. We have by now weathered the vicissitudes of spring. You know the stuff - equinoxial gales from the west sometimes combined with thunderstorms bringing potentially devastating blasts of hail, and often colder than mid-winter. All this interspersed with glorious sunny and windless days, when you can almost see the vine shoots growing.
Southern areas suffer the problem of frost in spring. If this occurs after budburst it can destroy new shoots and developing flower clusters. Every region south of Auckland has had its share of frost damage in recent years, sometimes reducing potential crop size by more than half. We have heard stories this year from Marlborough about large numbers of helicopters inverting vineyard air so the colder air on the ground is replaced by warmer air from above.
Early summer is one of the two most critical times in the season – flowering and fruit set. Fortunately grape vines do not need the assistance of bees, as they self-pollinate. But we are still vulnerable. Weather conditions which reduce photosynthesis, ie- cold and wet, will disrupt pollination. This process, called “coulure” in France, prevents berry fertilization, with consequent reduction in crop size.
A reduced fruit set is not always a bad thing. Some grape varieties are prolific, and in most seasons will need some bunches removed to give the vines the best chance of fully ripening the remainder. A dose of cool wet weather about now can avoid the need for labour intensive bunch thinning. In our vineyard cabernet sauvignon and pinot gris can sometimes set huge quantities of bunches. This looks wonderful on the vine but very large crops compromise wine quality, especially if the weather at the business end of the season cools too quickly.
A walk through the vineyard at this time of year can be very rewarding: Grape flowers are tiny and almost invisible, but they are very abundant and in combination produce a gorgeous aroma. The heady wafting fragrance of flowering grapes can be a transport of delight and carries with it the promise of things to come.
Robin Ransom
President, Matakana Winegrowers Inc.
robin@ransomwines.co.nz
Originally published in Mahurangi Matters, December 2007
[ add comment ] ( 9 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 368 )Given the recent Local Body Elections it seems timely to talk about the compliance requirements that are foisted by national, local and quasi-government organizations upon the citizens, especially those trying to make a living from their own enterprises. Businesses such as winegrowers, involved in producing and selling alcoholic beverages, cop it worse than most. Consider this burden:
Excise tax return & payment (Customs Dept., $1.75 per bottle); ALAC levy return & payment; GST return & payment (by definition paid on top of Excise and ALAC levy – a tax on a tax); PAYE return & payment; Property Rates (both RDC & ARC); Wastewater Discharge Record Keeping & Inspection (ARC); Sale of Liquor off licence (RDC); Sale of Liquor on licence (RDC); Certificate of Registration for food premises (RDC); Bar/Restaurant Manager Licensing (RDC); Licence Controller Qual., (Hospitality Standards Inst., NZ); ACC return & payment; APRA Levy - so we can play recorded music in a public place; NZ Wine Institute (a statutory body), annual levy; NZ Wine Institute - harvest statistics; NZ Wine Institute - acreage and varieties planted statistics; NZ Wine Institute - volume of wine sold statistics; NZ Food Safety Authority - annual audit of record keeping for exporting wine; NZ Food Safety Authority – separate audit and certificate of compliance for every wine exported; Sustainable Winegrowing (part of NZ Wine Institute), provision of comprehensive vineyard & winery operational data plus audit and levy payment; Growsafe agrichemical licensing (NZAET); Firearms licensing (NZ Police).
I am bound to have omitted something here, but this list involves time and effort in data collation and calculations, and in some cases having to undertake training courses or being audited, on something like 80 different occasions over the course of a year – an average of one and a half times per week, and payment of almost 60 cheques. There are of course a completely different set of bureaucratic requirements if you want to build, or change buildings or wastewater provisions, which in Rodney District has in my experience always involved nightmarish processes ad infinitum, until you are ready to tear your hair out.
I can report however, a recent instance of the small guys winning. During the course of preparing for the wine and food event at the recent Kowhai Festival we were required by RDC to get both a resource consent and a building permit, at a cost of $270, so we could erect a marquee for a few hours. I happened to mention this to Penny Webster in her capacity as a Northern Councillor. She responded as any normal person would, with a mixture of astonishment and exasperation, and vowed that the money would be refunded. She was as good as her word, and had sorted the matter out to our satisfaction the very next day.
Let’s hope this bodes well for the new Council’s attitude to the very vexed issue of the huge time and costs we are faced with in coping with local authority bureaucracy.
[ add comment ] ( 18 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 539 )
Random Entry
