TipinuiThis growing season was definitely one where “the best wines were made in the vineyard”.  A large crop of grapes set on the vines in Marlborough and, after naturally modest to low levels of crop in 2007, some growers were tempted to leave an excessive amount of fruit on the vines. The grapes for this wine, however, were thinned at an early stage to ensure better ripeness and concentration.

The Donaldson Family traces its Kiwi roots back about 1000 years. In keeping with this we have chosen to honour this special New Zealand wine with an ancestral name.

The fruit came from an elevated vineyard on clay, limestone slopes looking north-west over the Waipara Valley. This was an ideal growing season for pinot gris with an early bud-burst, a warm summer and a long, lingering autumn.

With an early budburst and a warm summer this growing season was ideal for pinot gris. A long, dry autumn meant we were able to delay picking the grapes until they were perfectly ripe. They came from an elevated vineyard on clay, limestone slopes, looking northwest over the Waipara Valley.

ChardonnayCool breezy weather in late spring and early summer impaired the pollination of the grape flowers and this resulted in a relatively small crop of chardonnay grapes forming on the vines.  The rest of the summer was excellent and the autumn was warm and dry.  The grapes were thus beautifully ripe and they were able to be picked in optimal condition.

Coolish weather over the flowering period of the vines impaired pollination, which reduced the size of the overall crop.  The rest of that season, however, was excellent.  The hand harvested fruit was beautifully ripe and in optimal condition when picked.  The fruit came from gentle north facing clay slopes in Marlborough’s Brancott Valley. 

TEHAUAlthough the weather was fine over the flowering period of the vines, there were frequent, blustery winds.  These impaired pollination and reduced the “set” so that there was a small crop.  The rest of the season, however, was excellent and we were able to harvest beautifully ripened grapes.

Early summer and midsummer were extremely hot and dry, but the latter part was cooler, bringing the season back into balance. A long warm autumn ensured the fruit was in optimal condition when picked.

The spring and early summer were warm and so exceptionally dry that we felt the vines might suffer from the effects of drought.  In February we had the unexpected; a torrential downpour set the dry streams gurgling merrily and totally replenished the ground water reserves.  Late in autumn we had humid conditions which led to some botrytis developing in riesling.  Many producers picked early to minimise the effect of this, but fortunately we braved it out until the weather cleared and the patches of botrytis became beautifully shrivelled and noble.

The spring and summer were particularly dry and hot, which lead to the development of ripe tannins and flavours.  We were becoming worried that the vines might become too heat and drought stressed when we had an unexpected downpour, which relieved the vines and set the streams gurgling.  This season was subsequently brought back into balance by a cool autumn, which helped conserve vibrant red fruit characters in the berries, while allowing full ripeness.

The vines came into leaf a little earlier than usual due to warm spring weather.  There was good accumulation of heat during the summer and the autumn was long and dry.  We picked at the normal time which meant the berries had extra ‘hang time’ on the vines so that the fruit was especially ripe.