Grape growers all smiles at record harvest

Wine companies in Hawkes Bay, Gisborne and Marlborough are delighted with the 2004 vintage, with almost all grapes in their regions now harvested.

Most grapes still on the vines in Marlborough and Gisborne are being held for late-harvest wines.

In Hawkes Bay, nearly 90 per cent of the fruit is picked, the rest being mainly cabernet sauvignon and late-harvest crops.

Growers in all three regions say they are pleased with the quality and quantity of the crops - a great relief after the small 2003 vintage, affected by spring frosts.

The warm, dry autumn was just what the grapes needed, growers said.

"Marlborough will produce more wine this year than the whole of New Zealand last year," Marlborough Winegrowers spokesman Stuart Smith said.

"It will certainly be a record - we're very happy."

The increased tonnage was due partly to new vineyards coming on stream and partly to a good yield per hectare.

The Hawkes Bay harvest will be the region's biggest, despite increased efforts to reduce the yield per hectare, in order to improve the wine's concentration and quality.

Hawke's Bay Grape Growers Association president Chris Howell said contract vineyards might previously have produced 12 tonnes per hectare, but directives from the companies had reduced that to 8 or 9.

Steve Smith of Craggy Range and John Loughlin of Askerne said demands for quality in export markets were forcing companies to limit yields. If vines were over-cropped, the wines had less flavour.

"It's a great vintage for chardonnay," Mr Smith said yesterday. "The reds will be very good, at least - it's a bit early to be sure yet."

The Gisborne harvest would be about the same as 2002, the region's biggest so far.

Expansion of vineyards had not been as fast as in some other regions, and yields had been a little lower.

Quality might be higher than in 2002, which in itself was a good vintage.

Martinborough has not been so fortunate, with grapes affected by rain in February and early March.

Mr Smith said the harvest there was about half-complete.

"It's too early to make judgments, but the vineyards have coped very well with the difficult conditions."

- NZPA