Marlborough Vintage Half Way Point – Lower Yields, Higher Flavours
Vintage in Marlborough may be slightly behind the long term average in terms of ripening, but that’s not concerning
growers and winemakers in the region.
At the halfway point of vintage 2010, the general consensus from winemakers and growers in Marlborough is that the fruit
flavours are superb, the vine balance excellent and the yields below average. Chris Simmonds a grower in the Southern
Valley sub region of Marlborough says some of the fruit flavours are the best he has ever seen. “The fruit is excellent,
clean and particularly in the Chardonnay and Riesling there are some wonderful flavours.”
Fromm Winery’s winemaker William Hoare says the cool weather in December means crops are lighter than average, but it
also means growers haven’t had to intervene as extensively as in 2009 to remove excess fruit from their vineyards
leading into harvest. “The vine/fruit is in perfect natural balance and we are getting riper flavours with lower
alcohol.”
Nick Lane, winemaker at Cloudy Bay agrees saying the fruit has benefited from the very hot March temperatures, resulting
in “nice flavour ripeness, without excessive sugar levels.” “Yields are down on previous years, particularly in the
earlier ripening varieties of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. But there is some real phenolic ripeness in the Pinot and the
Sauvignon Blanc has the classic flavours it has become world famous for.”
Grower Peter Morice who grows in the Wairau Valley sub region says his Sauvignon Blanc crop is down between 25 and 30
percent, but a lot of that has to do with pruning back to three canes in June last year, rather than four. This set his
vines up for lower yields and is just one of the steps many of the regions vineyard owners have implemented to reduce
their output and also input costs.
“I would say the 2010 crops are lighter than first thought,” he says. “So far it has been a great season weather wise.
In early January we were thinking the fruit wouldn’t ripen, because we were running a long way behind. But that hasn’t
happened, thanks to the drawn out Indian summer.”
Dr Mike Trought from Plant and Food Research says the weather has been “very kind. Basically it has been a dream run for
wineries.”
Marlborough is renowned for its high sunshine hours and cool night time temperatures that help lock in the zesty
flavours and give the signature crisp and fruity structure to the wines. The vintage so far reflects this perfectly.
While some smaller wineries have almost completed harvesting their fruit, the majority are still waiting for specialised
parcels of Sauvignon Blanc to come in. Much of the regions fruit is being strategically harvested so the profile of
flavour is just right allowing the expert winemakers to develop on and extend the world famous Marlborough Sauvignon
Blanc profile.
Marcus Pickens, Marketing Manager for Wine Marlborough suggests that this is a timely extension for the region. “When
Marlborough has vintages such as this one, where the conditions allow harvesting under limited weather pressure, there
is scope to develop more diversity into the wine signature.
We are seeing a bit of that this year and it is perfect timing to enable our loyal customers the chance to seek out
more diversity within our famous Sauvignon Blanc. It also attracts new customers as they latch on to further
complexities and uniqueness within the wines and individual brands of the region”.
The vast majority of the harvest is expected to be complete before Anzac Day on April 25 th . Last year Marlborough
processed 192,000 tonnes of fruit. Even with more land coming on stream for the first time this year, predictions are
the eventual yield will be below that figure in 2010.
ENDS