The Doctors Arneis 2009
2009 was very much decided by how much faith you put in research by Dr Mike Trought and his colleagues of the Marlborough Wine Research Centre on predicting the next vintages crop, 10 months before harvest. We had been observing the development of the crop prediction model and had the faith! – The model predicted a 30-40% increase in the number of bunches of grapes. This knowledge allowed us to drastically reduce the number of buds laid down at winter pruning; hence reduce the number of shoots that grew in spring, reducing the numbers flowers and bunches per vine, therefore our crop at harvest was, (a modest 7-8 ton/Ha). For those that did not heed the warning, the season involved endless rounds of crop reduction procedures, a costly exercise mostly down by hand or those who choose to do nothing produced excess yields of below average quality fruit (and who wanted that after the record 2008 vintage)!!
Climatically the growing season was wonderful, just the right amount of rain in spring, summer sunshine, then a dry cooler autumn harvest. In fact the weather during harvest was so good that I was often heard saying that vintage 2009 was boring!! Where had the adrenalin rush of impending doom, gone over harvest? All in all, one of the best vintages in the last 10 years right across our range of grapes.
Cooler Northern Piedmonte, Italian grape varietal pronounced “Ar ‘ne’ is” that appears right at home in cool climate New Zealand. We have planted our Arneis on a stony section of our Gibson’s Creek vineyard, right in the centre of the Wairau river valley – classic free draining silty/stoney terroir hoping to give the wine its signature “wet stone” minerality. The variety is moderately vigorous and needed careful tending, 2 crop thinning, leaf pluck and trims to maintain vine balance. We hand harvested mid-April, similar to Sauvignon Blanc, at 22-24 Brix, ripe fruit, 6 ton/Ha, free of Botrytis with good acidity and an intense aromatic flavour profile.
Tasting Notes
Pear, apricot, white peach, white flowers, sage are present on the nose of this wine. The palate shows stonefruit & dried herb aromas, texture, weight & minerality with that classical Arneis dry phenolic finish. A very alluring wine showing the potential of this new varietal to the Marlborough terroir. |
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