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2023 Vintage Report: “I can’t stand the rain”

Written by Nga Waka on June 2, 2023

Growing season (Oct-Apr) data:

Rainfall (mm)

Season 22-23 21-22 20-21 19-20 18-19 17-18 16-17 15-16 14-15 13-14 12-13
October 69 31 15 84 61 44 42 26 35 105 69
November 92 10 102 43 94 7 118 21 55 67 33
December 142 171 61 104 86 25 44 31 29 36 82
January 102 12 15 8 6 49 52 70 3 48 43
February 109 280 26 23 32 143 53 17 36 23 69
March 74 45 42 148 28 63 62 19 41 71 95
April 94 15 51 97 98 139 48 84 172 35 70
Totals 682 564 312 415 404 429 510 232 283 522 426

 Growing Degree Days (heat units)

Season 22-23 21-22 20-21 19-20 18-19 17-18 16-17 15-16 14-15 13-14 12-13
October 81 109 121 80 93 104 93 85 75 100 75
November 195 187 130 200 144 154 146 118 117 152 88
December 224 246 192 210 233 255 186 187 190 225 232
January 242 248 248 233 305 337 215 264 255 191 230
February 217 217 200 269 223 259 211 299 187 204 186
March 167 193 178 170 229 217 181 221 199 145 175
April 128 98 106 98 86 101 100 106 125 123 119
Totals 1254 1298 1175 1260 1313 1427 1132 1280 1148 1140 1105

I toyed with a few song titles for this vintage report including “Why does it always rain on me” and “You can’t always get what you want” before settling on “I can’t stand the rain” accurately reflecting how we felt about the season and acknowledging the recent death of the great Tina Turner. You will gather from that and the seasonal data above that the 22-23 growing season was both mild and very wet. Heat units were in the normal range but rainfall exceeded all previous growing seasons for which we have records. To put that in context, the growing season total of 682mm is not far off our average long-term annual rainfall! What made it more challenging was that the rainfall was evenly spread across the growing season so we didn’t get any sustained dry periods for favourable ripening. While heat units were adequate they don’t tell the whole story as, when it wasn’t raining, humid and cloudy days dominated and sunshine hours were few and far between. 2023 was truly the Summer that wasn’t.

The weather presented huge challenges for the vineyard team throughout the growing season. They had to deal with excessive weed and canopy growth, disease pressure and narrow windows of opportunity to get much-needed sprays applied. It is to their credit that reasonable quality fruit, and in some cases better quality fruit, was able to be harvested and delivered to the winery. The positive story of the 2023 vintage is the quality of the white varieties and Rose which, while not exceptional, will still allow us to produce sufficient volumes of good quality wines for our main Nga Waka label. Pinot Noir was not so fortunate and while “sugar-ripe”, the rain and lack of sunshine hours has only provided grapes capable of producing lighter, pretty wines without the structure and complexity we require for our top labels. Accordingly, there will be no single vineyard or Nga Waka label Pinot Noir from the 2023 vintage.

Although El Nino years present different challenges, the prediction that we are moving in that direction and away from the disruptive La Nina phase will, I think, be welcomed by every New Zealand grapegrower and winemaker. Roll on 2024!

Here are the average harvest parameters for each variety:

Variety Brix pH Acidity (g/l)
Chardonnay 22.5 3.2 8.5
Pinot Noir 23.5 3.6 9
Sauvignon Blanc 21.5 3.1 9.5

Roger Parkinson

June 2023