Wairarapa vineyards looking up

Vineyards in Wairarapa have escaped the worst of a rain-plagued harvest this year, according to industry players.
Horticultural contractor Panada Wall, who has been running gangs of pickers at five Martinborough vineyards since late March, said the harvest this year had been the wettest since she began working in the district seven years ago.
Niwa scientist James Renwick said Martinborough had, at 60mm of rain, already seen its monthly average rainfall for April. Across Wairarapa there has been 50mm-100mm of rain on average for the month, while some areas have posted double the normal rainfall for the period.
Ms Wall said the intermittent rain had kept her gangs from work for days at a time.
A greater number of Martinborough vineyards have used machines to harvest, as the fruit can be gathered more rapidly when a fine weather window opens.
Martinborough Vineyard winemaker Paul Mason said the winery had picked its best blocks and had only about 20 per cent yet to harvest, comprised mainly of late-ripening syrah varieties.
He said there were several vineyards in the district that had already completed their harvest despite the "stop start" work that rain had forced since picking started in earnest late last month.
"We began our harvest a week earlier than usual because of the warm weather earlier on, and that made a difference for us because we got in our best ahead of the wet," he said.
"It's always a nice feeling though to have your better blocks in when the fruit is good."
Martinborough Vineyards viticulturalist Peter Wilkins said the rain had not had a major impact on fruit quality but had seemed to make harvesting more onerous.
"We started off with a hiss and a roar but now the vintage feels to us like it's dragging on a little. I think that's because we've had such good autumns in the past few years.
"But there aren't too many issues for all that and, whatever fruit is still out there, it's close enough to the end of harvest that they'll be in within the next week or so."
Jane Cooper, Matahiwi Estate Vineyards winemaker, said the winery used a machine to harvest and had yesterday finished picking its pinot noir grapes, with only pinot gris to gather.
She said the harvest would be complete at Matahiwi in a little over a week and "in general, we're happy - the reds are looking nice and the pinot looks good too".
MetService forecaster Matthew Ford said a westerly trough was expected to bring patchy drizzle to Wairarapa today but fine weather would prevail until a rain-bearing southerly change hit the region late on Sunday.