Blessed with a glorious, dry Summer, our Raupo vineyard commenced harvest 2019 remarkably early, on March 1st, with our Pinot Noir for Rosé. Vintage 2019 will be remembered as relatively trouble free, and a very long harvest – after the last few years when all varieties ripened at once, the slow, steady and spread out nature of 2019 was welcomed.
We continued harvesting our Pinot Noir, firstly from the Leopold plots and then we soon moved on to the Osip slope, harvesting each clone and area of the slope separately by hand. In particular, the Pinot Noir fruit, was some of the best fruit that the team have ever laid their eyes on – naturally low yields, small bunches and berries, full of concentration and personality. Careful and considered picking decisions have ensured the resulting wines, although brimming with concentration and power, are still characterised by elegance and finesse.
Shortly after the Pinot Noir we moved on to the Chardonnay, with our premium plot Sylvain providing pristine, gorgeous fruit. We harvested each clone separately and have each component bubbling away naturally in various barrels and puncheons. The Aromatics followed, with two different field blends combined in the vineyard to create our Chiaroscuro. Finally we moved to the earlier ripening blocks of Sauvignon Blanc which are full of flavour, natural texture and bright acidities, then finished strongly with some of our later Sauvignon blocks, that were still full of vibrancy and flavour, which really showed off the incredibly healthy fruit.
We finally finished harvest on April 13th with our Syrah – the dry conditions have provided great potential for this esoteric variety in the Marlborough environs, we have it tucked away safely in amphora pots, with one pot including a small portion of Viognier – an exciting trial for this year!
All in all, we feel very grateful for all the Vintage 2019 has bought to the Seresin family, not only with exceptional conditions and resulting fruit quality and health, but also a hugely collaborative and rigorous effort from everyone!