Never having picked this early before, we brought the fruit in over a three week period to present a range of physiological ripeness levels in order to try to further understand the optimal “sweet spot” for ripeness. The vintage started on February 28 and was complete by March 20. Our contingency plans of rented chillers, extra picking baskets and pickers to gather the fruit more quickly and earlier in the day, in the end were not needed. A cooler ripening period is a major contributor to the unique character and quality of Central Otago wines so we were very grateful and very relieved to see the change. Because of the extremely dry conditions in the months preceding, the wet February did not cause any notable disease issues or excessive swelling, but thankfully, assisted with slowing the ripening process. Normally this would be a serious concern, but as we were so well advanced with the season, the coolest and wettest February since 2004, turned out to be a real saviour for vintage 2018. Suddenly, on February 3, just after temperatures were peaking at 39☌, we had snow low on the hills surrounding the vineyard and just 4☌! It was as if somebody turned on the switch for March/April weather to commence in February. ![]() ![]() By the end of January we were beginning to get seriously worried for the quality and style of the wines after the warmest summer on record. ![]() With the last several weeks of typical, cool Central Otago autumn weather and spectacular colours, one can almost forget the astonishingly warm spring and summer that we experienced this season.
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