Weather gods fail to rain on Blackenbrook's 2022 vintage
Rain, COVID-19, labour shortages… and more rain. Ursula and Daniel Schwarzenbach of Blackenbrook winery on the Tasman coast spoke with Columnist, Neil Hodgson, reflecting on what it has taken to succeed in the face of the persistent challenges of this curious season. Neil reviews three of their wines worth hunting out - Blackenbrook 2022 Pinot Rose, Blackenbrook 2022 Pinot Gris and Blackenbrook 2022 Gewurztraminer.
Read our summary below, and click on the link to read the full article, including Neil’s reviews, on Stuff.
Article by Neil Hodgson. Published 23 August 2022 by Stuff.co.nz.
“If you follow this column, you may remember I wrote about the 2022 wine grape vintage a couple of times earlier in the year.
The first time was about how fantastic the growing season had been over the spring and summer months and then, a week or so after that column it rained. And it rained and rained just as harvest was getting under way.
Rain has been a very familiar theme in 2022. From the 50mm to 100mm plus of rain at just the wrong time for some grape varieties, pinot noir in particular, to one of the wettest and warmest winters I can remember. This was followed by the region being absolutely dumped on in the last couple of weeks.
“It started off like a dream: a warm spring, mild conditions for flowering and a strong fruit set, lots of blue skies and just enough rainfall to keep the vineyard happy and working at its best,” said Daniel.
“But 70mm of rain followed by two weeks of warm, humid weather in February had us deeply worried about our crop. The weather recovered, but the grapes were now very fragile and wouldn’t survive another big rain event.”
Excess water has certainly been a challenge for a huge number of people in the region.
Last week was particularly challenging for homeowners across the region and the clean-up and damage repair will last for many months, even years, when it comes to stabilising the many slips and repairing roads around the region.
While we can’t avoid the reality of the impact climate change is having, we can celebrate some fantastic things in this region; from the way the community rallied together to help each other to the wonderful food and beverage products being made here."