Sophie Preece, RuralNewsGroup | 12 April 2023
It’s a steaming 26.5C in Hawke’s Bay as a retired King’s Counsel handpicks Chardonnay grapes in the wake of a cyclone.
He’s one of a team of volunteers who heeded the call from winemaker and Chardonnay specialist Tony Bish, who’s lost 75% of his intended intake to the rain and floods this season. “We’ve written off about 150 tonnes out of a 200-tonne intake,” Tony says on 9 March, about to drive his trailer of freshly picked fruit back to the winery. “It’s been a hard season.”
But despite knowing he won’t meet export orders, which take up half his production, Tony is heartened by the response from his local community, with people of all ages joining the harvest, alongside a team of seasonal workers from Vanuatu.
The wine community has pitched in too, with Marlborough growers offering a lifeline for Tony’s Fat & Sassy consumer brand. On realising the extent of crop losses, Tony emailed his contacts in the region and revealed he was “desperate for Chardonnay”.
The response was good, both from those willing to part with their fruit, and others offering moral support. “It’s a case of Marlborough helping Hawke’s Bay,” he adds. “Basically the story will be Fat & Sassy goes to Marlborough. Thanks to our colleagues in Marlborough helping us through a cyclone, we’ll be able to keep continuity in the domestic market.”
In the meantime, he’s excited about the quality of fruit still hanging on the vine, to be picked at the end of March for his premium labels. “We are going to pick some really good fruit, so there’s a happy ending in sight. It’s going to deliver something delicious.”
