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 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.

Mild spring weather resulted in early budburst so that the vines got away to a good start.

There followed a hot summer and a warm, dry autumn resulting in the grapes maturing in advance of normal. In spite of this we left the fruit hanging on the vine in order to encourage the development of ripe tropical fruit flavours and give the wine extra richness and depth.

The growing season was excellent for riesling, with an early spring, a warm summer and a long, lingering autumn. The grapes came from three climatically different Canterbury sub regions and we timed the harvest with each to take advantage of their distinctive but complimentary flavours. The Waipara Valley component was picked first, followed by that from Burnham and lastly the fruit from Swannanoa.

Mild spring weather resulted in an early budburst and warmth during the vines flowering period led to a reasonable, but not excessive, crop of grapes “setting” on the vines. Good but not too hot summer temperatures produced even ripening while allowing the grapes to retain just the right level of natural acidity. Lingering sunny days in autumn allowed us to harvest beautifully, physiologically ripe fruit.

The growing season was a little longer than usual as mild spring weather resulted in early bud burst. Although this was followed by warm days the nights were cool preventing excessively rapid growth and development. There was good accumulation of summer heat and the autumn was long and dry. Harvest was as usual in late March and April. The extra time on the vines without excessive heat resulted in fruit that was beautifully physiologically ripe when picked, but yet had good levels of natural acidity.