Nga Waka Wines » Vintage 2013 Diary

Part 3 – Where did that fortnight go?

Nga Waka — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 05:52:52 +0000

Well, my best intentions to keep this diary regular flew out the window once we started picking. In my defence, everything decided it was going to ripen at the same moment and a general clamour of pick me, no pick me, ensued.

As I get my head briefly above the parapet I can report that we have harvested over 40 tonnes and by next Tuesday, when some rain is forecast, we will have only Home Block Chardonnay and a bit of Pinot to come in by the end of that week.

Yields have been slightly above average and more importantly the quality is spot on. Flavours have reached optimum at lower sugar levels this year which will mean moderate alcohol levels – all to the good when your doctor asks how much you are drinking!

I don’t think we’re at the stage where definitive judgement can be passed on the vintage but based on what I’ve seen in the winery so far it’s not too premature to say that we’re looking at a very good year and lovely wines across all our varieties.

Time to check on the press, more later.

Cheers,

Roger Parkinson

Part 2 – 22/3/13 – not so fast sunshine!

Nga Waka — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 01:05:24 +0000

I might have been a bit optimistic about harvest starting next week. Today’s testing results as follows:

Variety	Pinot Noir	Chardonnay
Brix	21-22	20-21

It looks as though the big rain this week, 92mm all told, has pushed us back a bit more than I expected so we will probably be underway around our normal start date of the beginning of April, just after Easter. The rain has certainly freshened the vines up in a way that irrigation can’t and the grapes are in excellent order. The forecast looks very settled with fine days and milder temperatures which will be just the ticket for getting us through to harvest. More next week.

Roger Parkinson

Part 1 – 20/3/13 – a week out from picking?

Nga Waka — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 22:53:48 +0000

First round of grape testing last week had sugars in the following range:

Variety	Pinot Noir	Chardonnay	Sauvignon Blanc	Riesling
Brix	20-21	19-20	16-18	17

Based on those numbers we were looking at starting to pick around the 25th of March but the 80mm of drought-breaking rain this week will push that back a few days. Everything is looking in pristine condition and the rain which was from the south, and therefore cold, shouldn’t give us any problems. I’ll do some more testing later this week and report back.

Roger Parkinson