Belated holiday greetings from Puriri Hills. We spent Christmas in shaky Christchurch, where we experienced the latest round of 5-6 strength earthquakes. Then back to the vineyard for family visits…hence the lateness of this message.
The vineyard is pristine, despite a very rainy December. Flowering spread over a long period, with cabernet franc quite early and carmenere and cab sav quite late. Fruit set was quite good. The sheep have done the leaf plucking. Fruit thinning is next, now that bunch closure is upon us. It has been a cloudy wet La Nina year, and we are ready for some summer warmth and dry weather. Netting will follow veraison…sometime in February. Vintage is likely to spread over the whole of April since fruit set was so disparate.
We hope to ship our 08′s to the US and Australia in the next few months, so that everyone can try this fabulous vintage.
Happy New Year Judy!