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New Zealand grape growers have been asked to stop pruning while big winery Montana - owned by Pernod Ricard New Zealand - re-assesses its needs for the future.
National vineyard manager Tony Hoksbergen said Pernod Ricard was in the process of looking at volumes from the 2009 vintage and was planning its needs for 2010.
"As a result of the challenging trading environment, it is appropriate to make sure the pruning is being done correctly for the markets the grapes are going into," he said.
"We have to ensure we have all the combinations correct to meet the market demands in the best possible way."
There was an option to use chardonnay grapes in different combinations and the pruning was different for different wines, he suggested.
Pernod Ricard will meet with growers in two weeks to explain how it wants grapes pruned.
Pruners working on grapes for Pernod Ricard on the Poverty Bay Flats - near Gisborne - have moved on to vines contracted to other wineries.
Hoksbergen said growers in other wine-growing regions had also been asked to stop pruning a range of varieties, predominantly chardonnay.
Growers told the Gisborne Herald said they were concerned about the request from Pernod Ricard, and that concerns last year about oversupply of some grape cultivars, particularly sauvignon blanc, had triggered speculation about the stop-pruning order.
Constellation, New Zealand's second-largest winemaker, in February called for some Gisborne grapes - about 650 tonnes of semillon, reichensteiner and chenin blanc grapes, normally used to blend with sauvignon blanc to be left on the vines. The amount was equivalent to 3% of the region's 24,000 tonne harvest .
In May, Pernod Ricard announced 10 jobs at its Gisborne Montana winery would be cut in June and that the former Corbans winery in Gisborne would be sold.
Pernod managing director Fabian Partigliani said at the time that the decision followed a review of the Gisborne wineries.
"Capital investment, new plant equipment and upgrades to two of the sites presented us with an opportunity to consolidate," he said.
"The proposal is to decommission the non-operational site (Corbans) in its entirety by mid 2009 with a target of selling it by the end of 2009."
Background in brief
Montana was founded in 1961 and, in 1973, the company expanded into Gisborne and Marlborough.
Montana bought the Corbans winery in 2000.
Pernod Ricard has also dropped its sponsorship of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.
Winegrowers said on Monday their 2009 vintage of 285,000 tonnes was on a par with last season but noted the Marlborough harvest fell 1% because of lower volumes of pinot noir and "close management" of sauvignon blanc, while Gisborne's crop was down 3%.
Hawke's Bay's harvest rose 20%, returning to "normal" levels after a low 2008 vintage because of problems with frost and poor fruit set, and there were record crops in Nelson (up 11%) and Wairarapa (up 8%).
The crop in Central Otago was down 35% from the bumper 2008 vintage, due to crop management, and markedly smaller pinot noir crops in Central Otago and Marlborough led to a 16% drop in the level of pinot noir production seen in 2008.
