The spring of 2009 was one of the warmest ever recorded so the vines got off to a good start with an early bud burst.  Late spring and early summer however, were unseasonably cool and cloudy, sufficiently slowing the development of the grapes to cause us concern.  The skies then cleared and we had three to four months of unbroken sunshine.  This enabled us to leave the fruit on the vine to attain excellent maturity and ripeness, while cool autumn nights helped retain excellent natural acidity.

The grapes from which this wine was made came from the oldest gewürztraminer vines in the Waipara Valley and were planted by the pioneer vigneron John McCaskey in the 1970’s.  With an early budburst, a warm summer and a lingering, dry autumn, the season was ideal for this variety.  We waited until the fruit was ultra-ripe (28 brix) late in the season before picking a small crop.