PICNIC Riesling 2017

After a very mild winter the soil temperature at the beginning of Spring was warmer than usual resulting in a solid growth start with reasonable bud burst conditions. The fruit set (bunch formation) was in the first week of December and was relatively consistent. This set up a reasonable and balanced crop load on the Red Bank Vineyard Riesling blocks. After this period ‘The Wind’ started and was relentless until the start of March, when thankfully the more typical warm and dry late summer weather patterns of Central Otago were experienced until harvest in April.

Vineyard Management:
Own roots – cane cuttings from Felton Road. Single cane, one bunch per shoot and very close planted at 5500 vines per hectare. Both shoot and lateral thinned to reduce crop load. Leaves that expose the grapes when ripening are also plucked off to increase sunlight exposure in to the vine canopy. Hand harvested on the 15th of April 2017.