Spraying mistake costs Marlborough grapegrowers around $1.6 million

A contractor has sprayed seven Marlborough vineyards with the wrong chemical, costing the grapegrowers around $1.6 million in lost revenue, a viticulturist says. The affected vineyards, about 5 kilometres from Blenheim in the Wairau Plain, were sprayed using a fertiliser that makes the wine produced unfit for export. Consultant viticulturist Murray Paterson, who was brought in to advise one of the growers, said the phosphorus and potassium-based fertiliser, Perk Supa, was used by the contractor in March.