Rowena Duncum: The Country host on the weather's impact on recent horticulture and viticulture season

The recent burst of sunny weather has brought good results for New Zealand's primary sector.

Flowering has surged two weeks ahead for sauvignon blanc producers in Marlborough - meaning they'll harvest earlier than expected.

The Country host Rowena Duncum explains some of the other positive impacts that come with this recent burst of good weather.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Than with me right now is Rowena Duncan of the country. Hey,

(00:02):
ro row are you there? Oh you mean yes, I can. Oh,
thank god the phone's work. Sorry about that. That was
a clearly operated era at my end. No, no, probably not,
probably somebody else anyway, Hey, listen, tell me what's going
on with the viticulture and the horticulture season. It sounds
like the good weather's been a great thing.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, So flowering is actually two weeks ahead for Sauvignon
Blanc and Marlborough because it's been really warm, so that
means they'll harvest about two weeks early as well. And
Hooks Bank Sorry, they're also running a full two weeks
ahead of normal. Cherries, abracons, apples are all ripening really well,
and we know how badly that area was hit with

(00:39):
Gabrielle a couple of years ago, so you know, anything
that's looking positive for them is going to be really
warming people's hearts, shall we say.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
And Marlborough as well.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Where the best cherries are grown at Cherry Bank Orchard
there they are reporting that things are ripening really well
ahead of schedule as well. But it's been a bit
of a different story for the South earlier this month
there was a really bad and invection frost I believe
it was, And that's kind of when you get a
bit of a blast shell, so it's cold on top
of cold, and often you know, when there is a frost,

(01:08):
we see the helicopters get up in the air, we
see the windmills and the fans come on. But if
there's no warm air to circulate and mix around, it
makes things really really challenging. So that's when they kind
of turn on the sprinklers and try and get a
bit of a layer on the grapes. Unfortunately, some didn't
have sprinklers down there in that bannock Burn upper low
Burn area, they got a bit of frost damage. So

(01:28):
that's part of the vintage loss. So leaves damaged. They
get them mini bunches before they start to flower and
become grapes. They can get burnt and they can drop
off as well. Cherries can handle a lower temperature, but
the grapes, it really can impact on them. So yeah,
a bit of a challenge for them down there.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Brilliant thank you for ridding us through it. Roll I
really appreciate It's Roe Duncan of the Country

Speaker 2 (01:49):
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