The season started with the buds bursting into what looked like a long settled warm spring.  However this proved to be an illusion and as so often happens in Marlborough the spring weather became an unruly participant.  The season imparted a wave of snow and frost once most grape varieties were out of their woolly buds.  There was some frost damage in our Southern Valley Sauvignon Blanc which did reduce the yield. By the next day the sun had melted the snow and vaporized the frost . Summer rolled in early with hot dry weather through December and January.  All was looking good for an easy great vintage.

It never pays to be over confident as these early summer months were followed by an unusually damp February. The extra moisture sustained the undervine weed growth and enabled the vines to keep growing leaves.  Much leaf-plucking was required to keep the vines nice and open to the sun. The weeds were persistent and gave the Daedong tractor and under-vine weeder a testing time. We do under-vine weed (no herbicides) as one of the aspects of organic and bio dynamic practice. Huia is in the process of Bio Grow certification.

March fined up with plenty of sunshine. The grapes hastened their ripening and the flavour development process was well balanced and consistent. Harvest started with hand - picking Pinot Noir on the 15th March for the Huia Vintage Brut 2009, and finished on the 7th May for our 2009 Huia Botrytised Riesling. The new wine this from this year was a Rose’ from 20 year old Merlot and Malbec vines grown on light clay soils in the Southern Valley.
Yields were down across the board.  In particular the yields were light for the Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and Riesling. The availability of these wines from the 2009 harvest is very low and is often the way, the quality from this vintage across all grape varieties  is very high.
The wines are maturing well in barrel and tank gaining good balance and depth. The 2009 wines are well worth waiting for.

Claire & Mick Allan
Winemakers