News & Specials

It’s hard to believe that pruning is upon us again in the vineyard, it seems as though the vintage party hangover has only just left! The cold and misty mornings we are having at the moment forces a viticulturist indoors for a bit of contemplation on how vintage 2009 shaped up. Our water supply in the old mine dredge was a bit lower than desired as budburst began in late September, a bit earlier than expected. The older cabernet sauvignon blocks seemed to look particularly healthy, benefiting from the milder spring weather last year (almost Bordeaux like if you have a cultural cringe, and exclude the fact we are a long way from the sea). The gentle weather continued through flowering, with an inch of rain in December freshening up the vineyard no end. Last year we began converting 20 hectares of vineyard over to organic. Our thoughts were that as we are pretty low impact viticulturists anyway, we may as well see how much more there was to it. Turns out not much, its just a matter of tolerance, that is the viticulturist being able to tolerate a few weeds in the vineyard. By the same token we have taken to mowing the midrow much longer than we did in the past, with the object of providing a haven for beneficial insects in the hot days of summer. It appears as though the provision of more food on the ground reduces the kangaroos desire to eat the vine leaves. To some extent anyway. We also began mulching selected blocks to improve our soil health. This turned out to be a great move, given the conditions that were on their way. The mild conditions continued through January until nature delivered its corrective whack with the heat wave hitting us the same as the rest of southeastern Australia. Over a week of 38 degree + temperatures really pushed the vines to the limit. Overnight watering of the vines seemed to keep on top of the heat, as did the mulch, and it was with an exhausted sigh of relief when the cool change finally arrived. Fortunately there were no fires near us. The mild conditions then continued through to the end of harvest. Vintage had an almost ‘zen’ calm to it, as all blocks steadily went about the business of ripening. The sparkling fruit came in steadily, with no major problems, but it was the reds that we were quietly looking forward to pick. On the vine they looked great, nicely balanced crops with a steady ripening curve gave some good indication of how good the reds were going to be. Some reserve parcels of fruit were the best I have seen, so look out for the 2009 reds, as they really are going to be stunning. Anyway, the fog has lifted, so I had better get back to the pruning.