Vintage Reports

Spring of 2012 was cool and very dry. November warmed up nicely, with many days around 25 degrees. By late November, there were signs of things to come. Grass on the hillsides and the drier parts of vineyards began to die off early, due to less than half the normal rain falling over the three
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Spring was drier and cooler than usual, delaying bud break and subsequent vine growth by about two weeks. The rest of the spring, and until late March, temperatures were mild to warm, with no rain to speak of. Rain forecast for late March and early April kept us focused on picking and we finished our white grapes on
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It has been a real roller coaster ride to coin a phrase but we have smiles on our faces. After being spoiled for settled, warm, dry, vintage conditions for most of the last 10 years we finally got some weather in 2011. November was very dry with only 20 mm of rain and December below
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The 2010 season began very early. The hottest August on record was followed by a warm and dry September making budburst two weeks early, amidst thoughts of a “global warming” vintage.  However, October turned out to be the coldest on record and, with greater than usual rainfall, led to a slowing down of vine growth
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2009 was the hottest growing season for the last ten years with the second lowest rainfall ever recorded since 1980, giving a superb vintage. Mild spring weather lead to budburst occurring 10 days earlier than usual.  The rest of September continued mild and dry, with some days reaching 25 degrees. The warm to hot conditions carried on through
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2008 was an early, warm and dry growing season and our fifth consecutive high quality vintage. Two frosts in October caused problems on the Heretaunga Plains, but our Woodthorpe and Havelock Hills vineyards were unscathed. The Bullnose and Isosceles vineyard were touched in places by the frost, but our vineyard crew removed all frosted shoots which
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Good sized crops ripened to perfection in almost every case, so 2007 is one of those rare vintages of good quantity and high quality. After a wet winter, spring was settled, warm and dry. November was also dry and one of the warmest on record, leading to a rapid flowering and excellent fruit set giving
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2006 was a third very high quality vintage in a row for Te Mata Estate, following the excellent pattern established with 2004 and 2005. Bud burst was about a week early, following a dry end to winter 2005 and warm spring conditions. As we went into December, the soils were retaining good spring moisture and
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2005 has been a vintage of the highest quality, where the mid-summer weather provided ideal conditions. The wines have now all finished fermentation and are currently undergoing maturation. Of particular note are the late ripening Bordeaux varieties, the flavours of which appear to have responded wonderfully to the January heat. At this early stage, these
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