Heat is on as grape harvest starts early
Vintage workers have been given an ‘‘unprecedented’’ early call-up as Marlborough’s hot weather has ripened grapes early.
The harvest will kick off this week, which is a week to 10 days earlier than the long-term average. Some companies picked their first grapes of the season last week. Pernod Ricard was due to start harvesting today which was so early it called it ‘‘unprecedented’’.
Gearing up for Marlborough’s busiest time of the year, equipment has been greased up and run through its paces before the ‘‘huge’’ scale harvest takes over the region.
Pernod Ricard group winemaker Jamie Marfell said they usually started harvest at the end of the first week of March.
This was the earliest harvest staff had ever seen, Marfell said.
‘‘We have started in February before but not this early. It is kind of unprecedented.’’
The early harvest was driven by the lack of cool weather, he said. ‘‘We haven’t really had any southerly flows come through to check the grapes.
‘‘It’s all just 100 per cent go.’’ However, the vines were looking healthy and the canopies were strong.
With many workers coming from overseas, Pernod Ricard had to make sure its labour was geared up in time for the early harvest, Marfell said.
They usually came in and did a bit of training, but instead were going straight into grape pressing, he said.
Wine Marlborough general manager Marcus Pickens said early March was usually the benchmark for harvest.
‘‘So this is pretty early for Marlborough.’’
On average, harvest would be about a week early across the region, and up to 10 days early in parts of the valley, Pickens said.
‘‘We’ve had quite an amazing run of hot, dry weather.’’
The vintage would kick off with early varieties such as sparkling wine base, followed by pinot noir and chardonnay.
The sugars had accumulated pretty quickly in the hot weather, so picking on flavour would be key this year, Pickens said.
‘‘The technical numbers might tell you one thing but the flavour profile is probably key in years like this.’’
Marlborough’s 26,000 hectares of grapes all ripened at slightly different rates and the harvest would go into April, he said.
Saint Clair winemaker and viticulturalist Hamish Clark said it had been an interesting vintage so far. ‘‘With the poor flowering in general around the valley, we’ve got lower crops, but in most cases, very healthy canopies which have a lot of horsepower still, as long as we don’t run out of water.’’Saint Clair Family Estate cellar hand Kyle Wallis from the United States is ready.
‘‘It’s always fun, lots of fun, manic and addictive,’’ Wallis said.