Growing wine against the odds
The views may be the star attraction at Okurukuru, but winemaker Mark Sim works hard to produce wine to match.
The Okato man, who began working at Okurukuru during his university holidays, has been its winemaker for about 10 years.
Grapes were first planted in 2002 and the first wine, a rose, was produced in 2006. In 2012 the first vintage was made on site – prior to that grapes had been sent away to be made into wine.
Mark says the location may be stunning, but it’s far from ideal for growing grapes.
“It’s a really harsh coastal environment, it’s not quite warm enough and it’s a little bit too wet so you have to find just the right variety that can handle all those things and still make decent fruit,” he says.
“The hard part has been finding what works here and so far we’ve got a variety called Plantet which works really well.” For years the Plantet was believed to be a different variety called Pinotage. Last year the vines were sent to be DNA tested which revealed they were in fact the hybrid Plantet, a red wine variety created by French physician and grape breeder Albert Seibel. Mark is aware of one other small plot of Plantet in New Zealand and says no one is really sure how it got here. He describes Plantet as relatively light and delicate – “not a big heavy red like a Cabernet Sauvignon”.
Mark has replaced some of the original plants with aromatic wines including Gewurztraminer, Albarino and Pinot Gris. Shelter belts are being grown but in the meantime the plants remain at the mercy of nature. Chris says 2014 was an exceptional vintage then came two years where they didn’t get a harvest due to the weather. With the next harvest due around April, November was a critical time. A strong southerly as the vines were about to flower would have been devastating. But the team are philosophical about the risks.
“It’s out of your control and if it doesn’t happen, well, it doesn’t happen,” Chris says.
The Okato man, who began working at Okurukuru during his university holidays, has been its winemaker for about 10 years.
Grapes were first planted in 2002 and the first wine, a rose, was produced in 2006. In 2012 the first vintage was made on site – prior to that grapes had been sent away to be made into wine.
Mark says the location may be stunning, but it’s far from ideal for growing grapes.
“It’s a really harsh coastal environment, it’s not quite warm enough and it’s a little bit too wet so you have to find just the right variety that can handle all those things and still make decent fruit,” he says.
“The hard part has been finding what works here and so far we’ve got a variety called Plantet which works really well.” For years the Plantet was believed to be a different variety called Pinotage. Last year the vines were sent to be DNA tested which revealed they were in fact the hybrid Plantet, a red wine variety created by French physician and grape breeder Albert Seibel. Mark is aware of one other small plot of Plantet in New Zealand and says no one is really sure how it got here. He describes Plantet as relatively light and delicate – “not a big heavy red like a Cabernet Sauvignon”.
Mark has replaced some of the original plants with aromatic wines including Gewurztraminer, Albarino and Pinot Gris. Shelter belts are being grown but in the meantime the plants remain at the mercy of nature. Chris says 2014 was an exceptional vintage then came two years where they didn’t get a harvest due to the weather. With the next harvest due around April, November was a critical time. A strong southerly as the vines were about to flower would have been devastating. But the team are philosophical about the risks.
“It’s out of your control and if it doesn’t happen, well, it doesn’t happen,” Chris says.
Plantet Grapes, 14 November, 2019
A taste of Taranaki
The cellar door opens to a lush lawn overlooking the sea, complete with outdoor tables. With its relaxed vibe and superb views, wine tasting is a fantastic way to while away an afternoon. It’s a hit with hen’s parties, with wine available to purchase after the tasting.
Wines include the Okurukuru Plantet and Okurukuru Taranaki Rose, both grown and made on site. There’s also the Okurukuru Sauvignon Blanc and Method Traditionelle NV from sister vineyard Sugar Loaf Wines in Marlborough, owned by Chris and Peter’s daughter Kate.
Okurukuru’s first red and rose bubbles has just been newly released. The grapes were grown and fermented on site then sent to Marlborough to be turned into sparkling wine.
The cellar door is open from 9am to 5pm weekdays and there are plans to open weekends over summer. Platters are available.
Wines include the Okurukuru Plantet and Okurukuru Taranaki Rose, both grown and made on site. There’s also the Okurukuru Sauvignon Blanc and Method Traditionelle NV from sister vineyard Sugar Loaf Wines in Marlborough, owned by Chris and Peter’s daughter Kate.
Okurukuru’s first red and rose bubbles has just been newly released. The grapes were grown and fermented on site then sent to Marlborough to be turned into sparkling wine.
The cellar door is open from 9am to 5pm weekdays and there are plans to open weekends over summer. Platters are available.
Winter
It all begins in the winter, when the leaves fall and the vines harden and go dormant. To the casual observer it may appear that very little is happening in the vineyard as the vines lay dormant, but there is a lot more going on than meets the eye. Once the grape canes have hardened we begin pruning, and this is the time of year when some of the most critical decisions in the vineyard will be made. There are a lot of factors to take into consideration when pruning each plant, and to put it simply, how you prune a grape plant will affect its production for the next two to five years. Once we have finished pruning, we tie the new grape canes to the fruiting wire, a job that also requires great precision.
Spring
Spring is a beautiful time of year when the vineyard begins to burst with life. In a process called bud break, the vines enter a rapid growth period where the buds begin to swell and burst, sending out shoots of leaves and begin forming tiny inflorescences that will become grapes. Shoots can grow as much as a few centimetres a day. Flowering occurs somewhere around 40- 80 days after bud break, depending on the temperatures. Small flowers that resemble buttons appear on the tips of the inflorescences. During a process known as cap fall, the flowers shed their little green caps (the calyptra) and tiny flowers form. Fruit set is the stage that follows flowering, a time when the fertilized flowers develop seeds and a berry. This is a very crucial time for us in the vineyard, because our potential harvest is determined at fruit set.
Summer
The summer months are a time of fruit ripening (veraison) and canopy growth. At some point between fruit set and veraison, we do a light leaf plucking of the vines, removing leaves from around the fruiting wire to allow for better air flow and more sunshine to reach the bunches, aiding in the ripening process. Since grape plants often set more fruit clusters than they have the energy to support, we often find it necessary to do some fruit thinning as well. We generally do this near the end of veraison. Fruit thinning is a process in which we remove poorly set, immature clusters as well as the removal of bunches in tightly clustered areas to reduce bunch rot. This aids in higher quality grapes as the plants can focus their energy on the remaining fruit.
Fall
Fall is an exciting time of the year for us, because this is when we get to harvest the fruit of our labors. And while harvest is primarily determined by the ripeness of the fruit, there are other factors that we have to take into consideration such as the weather. This is no small challenge for us as our weather conditions are very unpredictable. Here at Okurukuru, since we are a small vineyard, we hand-pick all of our grapes. So when it’s time to harvest it is pretty much all hands on deck for about two days of picking. It is a fun time of year, but we all breathe a sigh of relief when another harvest is safely gathered.
