Wine flavours likely better

Winemakers would probably be relieved the 2015 grape harvest was smaller than the season before, an industry commentator and a winemaker have said.

New Zealand Winegrowers has reported the harvest was 326,000 tonnes, down 27 per cent on the record vintage of 2014.

The volume of the country’s most popular variety, sauvignon blanc, has dropped by 30 per cent, while tonnages of the second largest variety, pinot noir, were down by 29 per cent.

Regions which have seen the biggest drop in volume were Waipara (by 53 per cent), Auckland (41 per cent), Wairarapa (38 per cent), and Nelson (35 per cent).

Commentator Michael Cooper said it was possible quality might be higher than in 2014 because the record bumper harvest that year diluted flavours.

‘‘Whether the total export dollar returns is the same as the year before remains to be seen. There’s still a lot of 2014 wines still to be shipped,’’ Cooper said.

People forgot that 2014 was a ‘‘mammoth’’ vintage, and at the time it came out it was being painted as a ‘‘nightmare scenario – a 29 per cent increase on 2013’’.

The extra number of bottles that had to be sold from the 2014 vintage was 84 million.

‘‘The 2015 harvest is still the fourth biggest in history. But there is a general sense of relief that the tonnage has dropped because they won’t have so much to market,’’ Cooper said.

‘‘You would expect the quality of 2015 to be higher so in terms of preserving the country’s reputation for quality and preserving prices, it’s undoubtedly a good thing that it’s a smaller harvest.’’

Outgoing Palliser Wines managing director Richard Riddiford said it was too early to judge the quality of the 2015 vintage, although New Zealand Winegrowers said grape growers and winemakers across the country were ‘‘incredibly pleased with the quality and flavours of the 2015 vintage wines’’.

Sarah Szegota of NZ Winegrowers said although no wines had actually been produced yet, ‘‘flavour profiles’’ allowed winemakers to judge how they would taste. Even though the cool spring checked production, the hot summer provided excellent conditions for ripening grapes across the country.

Riddiford agreed with Cooper that it would be positive to see lower volumes.

‘‘We’ve had two bumper years and this should bring the supplydemand balance back into line. The 2015 vintage was a challenging one with a cool spring, drought and high winds so we don’t know the quality at this point,’’ he said.

New Zealand wine is exported to more than 90 countries and wine exports are currently valued at $1.39 billion a year.