Poor Marlborough harvest to calm prices

Wine companies are clamouring for Marlborough sauvignon blanc grapes, with crops 10 to 20 per cent lower than normal, growers say.

The increased demand, due to a cool December flowering period, could stop prices dropping this year and is already affecting the spot market, say industry members.

The average price for Marlborough sauvignon blanc grapes last vintage was $2278 per tonne, down from $2559 in 2003.

Marlborough Winegrowers spokesman Stuart Smith said he had a "gut feeling" crops were around 10 per cent lower than a normal year.

He said worries about overcropping, had been alleviated "because the weather didn't come to the party".

New Zealand Winegrowers chief executive Philip Gregan said prices had been elevated by shortages in recent times "and we saw last year prices come off their high".

The poor harvest was despite a 950ha increase in production area.

 

Gregan said the increase in the producing area made it difficult to calculate what this year's harvest would be, but was confident it would still be "the second largest we have ever had".

The viticulturist for Awatere Valley company Vavasour Wines, Alan Croker, said the company was advertising for sauvignon blanc grapes partly because of reduced crops but also because of higher export orders.

He said his crops looked 15 to 20 per cent lower than a normal year, "especially on the sauvignon blanc".

Over the last few weeks the spot market price seemed to have climbed, as growers came to realise how badly crops had been affected by the cold weather, he said.

"We have just got a shortage of sauvignon blanc. We have been short for quite a number of years."

But he said this year it could be harder for companies to get their hands on extra stock.

"I don't believe there is going to be a large surplus out there."

In addition to Marlborough's woes, areas like Canterbury and Central Otago, which may also be looking at reduced crops, would be looking at buying more fruit, he said.

Marlborough Wine Research Centre science leader Mike Trought said last year's huge yields created some negative talk of overcropping, and the cool flowering and low fertilisation had ensured sauvignon blanc crop levels were moderated this year, he said.

"We didn't want two large seasons in a row."

A cold spring meant flowering had been later than usual, and heavy crop loads would have been difficult to ripen in time for harvest.

His estimates put sauvignon blanc crops in the Wairau Valley down 10 per cent on a normal year, and much lower than last year.

Gregan said he didn't know what the impact of the reduced yields would be on export markets, which have grown a huge amount in the last year.

There were 60,000 tonnes of sauvignon blanc last year. If it dropped to 50,000 tonnes, it would be manageable, he said.

- NZPA