El Nino ‘bad for farmers, great for grapes’

El Nino ‘bad for farmers, great for grapes’

The 1997 El Nino, which was as intense as the current one, helped bring on a severe drought in the summer of 1997 and 1998. Geoff Wright from Wrights Vineyard and Winery in Gisborne said 1997-98 was a fantastic year for winemakers, particularly in Gisborne. “So if we are looking for an El Nino dry summer, what we are looking at producing is probably really good ripe grapes from our vineyard and producing some really good wine,” he said.

Scroll to top