2026 Wine Grape Harvest

The wine grape harvest is an exciting and very busy time at every winery, there is always a little nervousness around what the autumn weather will deliver during this critical time. Rain at the wrong time can cause havoc in vineyards, with significant rain events forecast for late March and early April it has been a frantic rush to get as much ripe fruit harvested as possible before the rain hit.

The biggest risk at this time of the year is rain swelling the ripe grapes resulting in split fruit that is then exposed to fungal diseases and rot. Not a great combination when you are trying to make wines with clean, varietal flavours.

Each year I try and visit a few wineries around the region to taste grape juice fresh from the press; I love just dipping a glass in the juice flowing from the press and tasting the ripe, fresh flavours being delivered to wineries.

This year Karen and I dropped in to see Emmanuel David, the winemaker at Heaphy Wines in Upper Moutere. At Heaphy they process wines for other growers and wineries as well as there own, so by visiting her and chatting about what she is seeing come through the winery, as well as tasting fresh juice and early ferment wines, I get a pretty good overview of what’s happening in the region.

Early indications are that the fruit quality is really good, some varieties are a little light in volume, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing in the current economic climate. A slightly smaller crop also tends to improve the intensity of flavours in the fruit. Less fruit to share the nutrients from the vine often means a better end result.

While I try and taste freshly pressed juice every year it was the first time Karen has joined me, seeing her reaction to the new experience of tasting these juices reinforced to me just how important it is for winemakers to understand fruit quality and flavours so they can make great winemaking decisions as the process continues.

One big change in the local industry has happened at Blackenbrook Vineyards. Ursula Schwarzenbach now owns the business outright and is working with a winemaker I rate incredibly highly, Trudy Sheild, to make Blackenbrook wines for her. While Ursula is in her happy place in the vineyard and selling wine, Trudy brings a lot of experience working with fruit grown in the region to the table.

Previously making wine at Waimea Estates then Middle Earth before establishing Sheild Wines with business partner Blair Gibbs she has crafted a huge number of award-winning wines. The winegrowing and winemaking partnership of Ursula and Trudy at Blackenbrook is one to watch with eager anticipation.

When we visited Ursula at the vineyard we saw, and tasted, some exceptional fruit on the vines that was being harvested while we were there. After visiting another winery and having lunch we went back to Heaphy Wines where the first grapes from Blackenbrook were being pressed this year. We tasted the juice from the grapes we saw being harvested just a couple of hours previously. And the flavours were beautifully ripe, fresh and intense, just as we tasted when we tried grapes from the vines.

Another winery we visited was Motueka Winegrowers, home to Anchorage Family Estate wines. New winemaker Sebastien Bouchut (Seb) and co-owner Chris Drummond dipped into tanks of recently processed grape juice so we could taste the flavours of the current vintage. Everything we tasted had a purity of varietal flavour without any hint of compromised fruit.

One tasting that sticks in my mind was the gewurztraminer juice. It was like drinking a glass of rose flavoured Turkish delight.

Seb is another winemaker with an outstanding pedigree, having previously made wines in Marlborough for Isabel Estate and at Marisco Wines. He says he aims to craft exceptional, concentrated wines that everyone can appreciate. I have every confidence that he will make sure the beautiful flavours we tasted in the freshly pressed juice will end up in the bottle you buy from the shelf of your favourite wine retailer.

When we visit wineries, even if it’s just to taste unfermented juice, we make sure we have food as well. Eating something substantial is essential if you’re tasting wines and Karen and I think The Smoking Barrel in Motueka is the perfect place. They are dog friendly (in the courtyard) and the food is generous in size and simply packed with flavour. They may be famous for their doughnuts but the slow cooked meats they make and serve in different ways are something pretty special.

I can’t wait to taste the finished 2026 wines that are being made from a very good Nelson wine harvest.

Published in the Nelson Mail 03-04-2026