The Hawke’s Bay wine region looks set to enjoy its third consecutive year of great vintages.
With picking nearly complete, Hawke’s Bay grape growers and wine makers are optimistic that this will be another good year, following exemplary vintages in 2013 and 2014. Hawke’s Bay is one of the first regions to forecast the quality of this year’s vintage following harvest.
“Most would be considering this to be a very good, solid vintage,” Michael Henley, Chair of the Hawke’s Bay Winegrowers Association (HBWG) and CEO of Trinity Hill Wines, says.
“There are few regions that are able to claim three great vintages in a row. We have had really good fruit and yields are down. Generally when yields are down, quality is better.”
The long, dry summer, coupled with little frost, resulted in excellent growing conditions in Hawke’s Bay, according to Xan Harding, the Deputy Chair of the HBWG Association and owner of Black Bridge Estate. “Overall we are confident of a good vintage, and Merlot and Chardonnay are likely to be stand outs,” veteran grower, Harding, says.
It is anticipated the harvest will echo last year. In 2014 two thirds of the 44,500 tonnes picked were made into white wine and one third was red wine, with Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah making up almost half of the vintage.
It will be late June, Henley predicts, before the Association will know exactly how many tonnes of grapes were harvested and the wine makers will be able to validate their optimism.
