Grape escape

OUT IN THE FIELD: GisVin general manager Hamish Jackson (left) and GisVin chief winemaker and Gisborne Grapegrowers chairman Mark Thompson inspect the grapes at a Bushmere Road vineyard. Concerns about any damage to grapes from recent rain have been allayed. Picture by Liam Clayton

The district's grape growers have breathed a sigh of relief in the wake of the heavy rain earlier this month when it comes to potential crop damage. “We've seen some grape splitting in some blocks, but that band of wet weather does not seem to have affected us unduly,” said Gisborne Winegrowers chair Mark Thompson.

“We have come through that wet weather relatively unscathed.”

The harvest rolls along with a peak expected over the next three weeks.

“Some growers are about half to three-quarters of the way through their harvests already.”