viticultural practices

Viticultural practices on the 5 1/2 hectare vineyard include medium density (2m x 2.2m) spacing, four cane vertical-shoot positioning, leaf plucking, and bunch thinning to ensure suitably spartan (2 tonnes/acre) yields for Pinot. Winemaking style in the Coney Winery is constantly evolving within an overriding wish to be minimalist – allowing the fruit and terroir to speak for themselves. The Pinot Noir is typically de-stemmed without crushing, gently hand plunged during fermentation, only fined where necessary and then aged in 30% new French oak for 10 months. Pizzicato is usually filtered prior to bottling at the end of March. The three riesling styles – Rallentando with around 5 g/l of residual sugar, Ragtime with around 11 g/l and The Ritz with around 30g/l are produced in roughly equal amounts representing the current evolution of New Zealand palates.