Harvest 2022 and public pick

When's the harvest happening?

Yes, this is the annual question. How's the summer been and how is this influencing the harvest?

A couple of weeks ago, we had 90mm of rain. And then last weekend, we had the remnants of the cyclone. No real rain, but winds like I've never experienced in our over 30 years. Up north around Kerikeri, a vineyard had 100m rows completely fall over. The winds snapped the poles. Fortunately, the vines, themselves, didn't. They just bent 90 degrees! And another vineyard had its nets blown off and were located up to a kilometer away. It was an amazing wind.

We suffered some wind burn on the leaves. But, otherwise, we were spared significant damage.

Vintage

As of today, the vintage looks early. The first grapes we pick are the Dolcetto. In 2020, which was a drought year, we picked the grapes for our Rosato on March 6. This was the earliest ever. But we've just tested the grapes and we think that this year may be earlier! The Sangiovese looks more normal, meaning the end of March. But this could change with the weather.

Public Pick

As you know, it's a tradition of ours to have at least one of our harvest days open to the public. We work, and then end with a long lunch. Last year, we did this on our last day of picking. And it signified the very end of the harvest. We want to do it like this again, because it was such fun. We didn't need to rush because all the grapes were picked!

It's very difficult to set a date now, but it's likely to be the very beginning of April. What's involved? We provide the tools, you the labour. And we start at 9am. And you get to see the processing involved in making wine. It's also the day we fill up our Passito drying rack with bunches of grapes. All this is organized on a Sunday. If any of you are interested, email me: david@heronsflight.co.nz. This isn't a commitment- because things can change. But it is an expression of interest. We limit the numbers to around 20.

However, we also spend several days on a normal harvest. The pick for the Rosato, will be one of these. And for these, we employ a team of about 12. This is, also, only during the week. If any of you would like to participate in this, let me know as well. I think that the Rosato harvest will be in the next couple of weeks. Then we wait for the Sangiovese.

Covid

How does Covid influence all this? As a hospitality venue, we can only allow people with vaccine passports to participate. As you know, our extended family lives on the property. And our daughter-in-law just gave birth to their second son only 6 weeks ago. So we try to be as protective of each other as we can- which includes visitors, of course. We try to look after you all, too.

Anyway, that's the news about vintage. And we look forward to a successful one!

All the best,
David