Summer is drawing to a close in Auckland. The chilly mornings are making it increasingly difficult to haul myself out of bed to do an hour’s MW study before starting work. But at least we’ve had a decent summer – which is more than you can say in England most years.
Waiheke Island is just 35 minutes by ferry from Auckland CBD and temperatures are two degrees C warmer on average than the nearby city. The occasional downpours we’ve had in Auckland have failed to reach Waiheke’s shores. It is experiencing the worst drought on record, which go back 50 years.
The vines seemed to be holding up remarkably well considering no-one on the island irrigates their vines (or so they claim – if anyone does irrigate, they were hiding it well). Most of the vineyards sit on clay-based soils which are renowned for water retention (Bordeaux’s right bank based on clay usually does well in dry years while the left bank based on gravels does well in wet years). In the words of David Evans, owner of Passage Rock “Clay soils hold on to the water quite tightly then release it slowly.â€
Hawke’s Bay producers would probably like to donate some of their water with rainy day after rainy day. While there are often parallels drawn between the two regions which make Bordeaux blends and Syrah, Nick Jones of Mudbrick says, “Waiheke is a different world to Hawkes Bay. We seem to do well in even years and they get good results in odd years.†It’s not particularly scientific but it does have some legs.
Producers are optimistic about this year’s harvest. Of course, they’re going to tell a journalist that but looking at the vines and tasting some of the grapes, there’s no reason to believe otherwise. There were a few stressed parcels but if they’re picked relatively soon, they should be ok. The Cabernet Sauvignon was still green as hell and eye-wateringly sour but that’s to be expected of a late ripener and they won’t be harvested for at least another three weeks while the Viognier was sweet and tasty and was fermenting late last week. Neill Culley, founder and winemaker at Cable Bay was pressing his Viognier when I showed up and he is looking to make a wild yeast, barrel-fermented Reserve Viognier for the first time this year (you heard it here first) but it all depends on what goes on in the cask in the coming months.
