Category: Harvest

The season started with a great amount of spring time frosts. We were also affected at our main Vineyard. But in some of the other vineyards it was a total loss.

Then around flowering it just poured rain. This miserable weather resulted in a very low fruit set resulting in very small berry sizes.

Luckily the summer was just magnificent, hot and dry.

This weather and the low yields affected the start of vintage which had never been this early.

We were able to pick very concentrated red wines, with a lot of Tannins and great potential for long time storage.

The Sauvignon Blanc was also picked with beautiful ripe and tropical flavour profiles.

As vintages 2017 and 2018 had heavy rain in April that ruined the opportunity to make world class Cabernets and Syrah…

2019 finally had the ideal weather for these late ripening red wine varieties. Our customers worldwide are already looking forward to these wines when they will come out.

The weather stayed fine and it was a short wait for some nicely shrivelled grapes for our noble sweet wines.

2019 was an exceptional year, with very low yields and fantastic quality!

On the 30th of March 2012, we started our harvest. The first grapes picked were from  St. Martin Vineyards from Martinborough. Perfect ripe Chardonnay grapes at sugar levels of around 12,7 % vol alc. for our  Methode Traditionelle. Some very ripe berries even had sugar levels up to 26 Brix.

Continue reading Starting off Harvest 2012

It is definitely a sign that the Harvest is over when you see the nets being rolled up and then checked for holes. The team at Joner are sharpening up their sewing skills and armed with string & a nifty finger knife they are onto the next job, net mending.
A pleasant task when the sun is out but now the mornings are getting very chilly you can imagine they do not enjoy this stationary work in the cold. Today is a lovely sunny day so there are smiles all around.
It appears that there are more holes then usual as with the higher rainfall over Harvest and the diligent watering done prior, the growth was a lot more than other years. As the nets were removed the team had to carefully pull the foliage off the nets as tractor was winding them in. Now the job is to check & mend the nets before storing, so all will be ready when the time comes to put the nets on again. It is good to see that both the men & women are working together on this and we notice that one of the team has the prime spot sitting on the tractor!!

One of the big problems in the wine industry is pests. Wasps and bees attack the grapes and damage the berries. They make a hole and suck the juice and this makes the juice oxidize and go brown. If you pick such grapes and use them to make wine it will change the colour of the wine and the smell. As the wasps and bees attacks sporadically it makes the grapes difficult to select. Luckily here at Johner we hand harvest so our team are always on the alert for grape damage and they are careful to only select the best grapes. You can be assured that they also keep a wary eye out for these pests as they sure have a nasty sting.

So far our Kiwi Grant is winning the “How many stings?” Competition, 3 times – ouch!! Johannes is glad he has only been stung once!

A few days ago Karl inspected the grapes at Little Vineyards.  Karl keeps a close eye on the grapes and is checking for the level of ripeness. This vineyard is situated just east  of Masterton on limestone soil and is owned by Nick Dench. Karl makes his wines, and they are under Nick Dench’s label of “Little Vineyards of Wairarapa”

Our top of the range Cabernet & Merlot “Lyndor” is sourced from a vineyard not far from Nick Dench’s Pinot Noir. The grapes were first planted in the clay limestone soil in 1986. It is one of the oldest established vineyards north of Martinborough.

As you can see… that the vines are certainly old!