Australian Vintage Report 1999

South Australia

South Australia’s 1999 vintage began with several searingly hot, dry summer months, indeed one of the hottest summers in history. Much of the state was adversely affected by frost on October 28, which reduced some crops to very low levels, but the summer appeared likely to easily ripen the small bunches and small berries produced by most vineyards. Then the weather intervened again. In the words of Stephen Henschke, it spat the dummy.

The rain began in earnest in mid-March, continuing fairly regularly up to and over Easter. In some regions, Eden Valley, the Adelaide Hills and McLaren Vale in particular, botrytis has been a major problem, especially with chardonnay. Some vineyards will not even be harvested; others will attempt to sort the good from the bad. It is not a year to be caught only with a mechanical harvester.

As it has been with much of this Australian vintage, vineyard management has been the key towards success or failure. Factors like thickness of canopy, cropping yield, amount of watering, and whether or not a spraying programme was regularly pursued will affect the performance of each vineyard. Needless to say, those looking to crop as high as possible with as little input as possible will be the worst affected.

What has made life even more difficult for growers in the three regions worst affected has been the timing of the rain, early in the ripening cycle. Stephen Henschke is however counting his blessings with his famous old vineyards, since both Hill of Grace and Mount Edelstone ripened around a month early, a record for both vineyards, to tremendous sugar levels and flavours.

It’s been a frustrating, disappointing McLaren Vale season in which vintage schedules have needed continual re-planning thanks to the weather. Reminiscent of the cool, wet 1992 vintage, 1999 is one of those seasons which really tests a winemaker.

Provided they we picked before the weather set in, whites should be fine enough, but botrytis will have become a major issue for those vineyards harvested afterwards. Nick Holmes from Shottesbrooke is still happy with his chardonnay and sauvignon blanc.

McLaren Vale shiraz will look more peppery and spicy and is unlikely to achieve the rich, licorice and chocolate lusciousness of normal vintages. ‘Every time the sugar gets up there we get a shower of rain and the Baume falls’, says Holmes.

‘The Bordeaux reds are looking okay and as yet I might even get 14? Baume with cabernet. Quite warm January-February, holding leaves well. I’m picking merlot on April 10, and samples I’ve taken have been rich in colour and flavour although the sugar’s not that high, between 12.8-13.0 alcohol.’

The better-managed vineyards on the Barossa floor have achieved good sugars and flavours, while those who have watered excessively to bump up yields have simply got what they deserved.

Stephen Henschke is a little concerned that his Eden Valley cabernet has a long way to travel before being fully ripe and at the moment will reserve his judgement on his Adelaide Hills reds.

South Australia’s southeast never received the depth of rainfall copped by those regions nearer Adelaide, so there’s still genuine optimism in and around Coonawarra and Padthaway. Botrytis is clearly latent within the vineyards, but despite light rains, the clear morning skies and light winds have helped prevent it from moving from vine to vine. Light crops around 10-15 down for the region, caused by small berries and light bunches, have helped the vines in their battle against disease.

Southcorp is presently two-thirds through its Coonawarra vintage and has commenced harvesting cabernet sauvignon, which appears to be in great condition. The only problems with botrytis appear to be with shiraz, especially where bunches are compacted close together and with riesling, much of which was harvested slightly earlier than ideal to ensure minimal infections. It looks to be a fine year for late-harvest Coonawarra riesling.

A burst water main on the night of Coonawarra’s heavy frost of October 28th was responsible for reducing the St George Cabernet Sauvignon crop to just 23 tonnes from the vineyard’s 30 acres, while Limestone Ridge has produced healthy yields of high expectant quality. Further good news is that the signs are favourable for an excellent John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon and a first-rate Michael Shiraz.

Padthaway chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon have benefited from the low yields, with good flavours and ripeness. Reworked shiraz vineyards, now farmed in almost true dryland style, have also produced great flavours and sugars.

Tasmania

It’s early days for the Tasmanian vintage, and growers will presently be praying that the weekly cycle of rainfall ends soon enough to prevent the still hard young berries on their vines from splitting and breaking down. It’s been a difficult, warm and very unusually humid summer. With most table wines still hanging on the vine, a more detailed report will follow in the next issue.

Victoria

It’s been anything but an easy run home for vignerons in the premium southern Victorian wine regions. One of the lesser-publicised outcomes of the storms which wreaked such havoc during the Sydney-Hobart yacht race was that they occurred when vines were setting their crops. The poor weather led to poor set and lower yields than desirable.

The summer then turned dry and many vineyards were still without sufficient water to achieve anything other than very low cropping levels. Then the weather turned quite humid, remaining warm, and in doing so provided first-rate conditions for infections of botrytis, powdery mildew and downy mildew. Even those vineyards which managed to remain unaffected by these problems have had to deal with bunch weights much lower than anticipated, with the result that otherwise normal-looking crops have actually turned in well below expectations. On top of that, the change-of-season hailstorms which typically cross southern Victoria managed to wipe out the crops that remained on certain unlucky vineyards.

Although it’s still vintage at time of writing April 6, it’s clearly a season for the careful viticulturist. Many of the warmer sites in cool regions have already harvested their early varieties like pinot noir, but the earlier-ripening vineyards had more humidity to deal with.

Garry Crittenden is relatively happy with fruit from the warmer, lower parts of the Mornington Peninsula. Early powdery mildew problems were quickly dealt with without deleterious effect, but subsequent cool and rainy conditions led to concerns about botrytis. ‘We conduct laccase analyses an enzymic indicator of botrytis and we’re not seeing a huge problem. It’s not taking off like wildfire as I thought it might’, says Crittenden. ‘We’re achieving good sugars and flavours, the fruit is clean and the crops are down.’
Crittenden’s highlights are his first half-ton of the Piedmontese variety arneis and a low crop of pinot noir.

Up the hill at Main Ridge Estate, Nat and Rosalie White are keeping fingers crossed. So far it’s so good, and they’re expecting to start picking pinot noir on April 10th at 24.5 Brix. They’ll finish pinot two weeks later, when they expect to commence bringing in chardonnay. Although several Peninsula vineyards are experiencing some difficulties keeping botrytis at bay, Main Ridge’s vineyard is actually looking cleaner even than it has in last two years.

At this early stage the Yarra Valley’s vintage doesn’t give quite the same cause for optimism, although Domaine Chandon is very happy with the quality of early crops.

At Coldstream Hills James Halliday is experiencing a patchy vintage. ‘Picking decisions are being driven by weather patterns and foliage and canopies and grape conditions. Chardonnay’s in as well as most of the pinot noir. Poor flowering has reduced yields and despite rain in March, berries are not filling as they usually do, so crops are down’, he says.

‘Amazingly, everything’s ripening at the same time as in 1998 which everybody said was a crazy year’, he says. ‘All the chardonnay will be in by April 7, although it’s normally picked in mid April. Botrytis is active in some whites, but we’re pretty happy, especially with chardonnay and sauvignon blanc. There’s not the usual colour in pinot noir, but the flavour’s there. I don’t know that we’ll make as much reserve as usual, but there will be some. Cabernet looks clean and presents no problems.’

‘In the past we’ve had bad years for merlot set, but this year breaks all records. We’ll have some in the Upper Yarra, but only an infinitesimal make. Before harvest it looks like vines have already been picked. I don’t know if we’ll bother with the rest other than a little in the amphitheatre vineyard.’

Western Australia

While much of the east coast sweltered under one of the hottest summers of all time, WA’s ripening season has been one of the coolest. At this early stage of the game, with cabernet sauvignon still to be harvested at Margaret River and in the Great Southern, circumstances would appear to be favouring Margaret River most of all.
The region’s season has been steady and cool, to the extent that harvest for most varieties is about a week later than usual. Although a couple of inches of rain fell in mid March, the rain occurred in four separate hits, so the vineyards didn’t get swamped. The ripening of cabernet sauvignon was retarded, but the rain didn’t send it backwards.
Recent sunny weather has finished the cabernet off well with intense flavours and harvest at Moss Wood started last week at around 13? Baume. Keith Mugford will let the weather dictate when he completes the crop, but with favourable forecasts, expects to have reached 14? Baume by the week of April 12.
‘Touch wood, it’s looking really good’, says Mugford. ‘We’re finding pretty fruit characters in the young wines and our chardonnay is one of the best we’ve made. We took all the chardonnay and pinot noir off without incident and harvested three-quarters of the semillon before the rain, but what we left continued to ripen afterwards with no botrytis.’
Howard Park winemaker John Wade says the only thing that saved him was Easter. ‘Since the Thursday prior to Easter we’ve had 6 days in a row of sun, but only 18 in the whole year this far. It’s been overcast and relatively cool, but the reds look promising now they’re ripening.’
‘It’s been a very late year in the Great Southern. This year we didn’t start picking our riesling till the 14th of March, but last year we’d completely finished by the 4th of March. We haven’t had a summer. We took the riesling off in the nick of time – we had rain then botrytis, but they haven’t been much of a problem.’
While it’s been a difficult viticultural challenge, the northern parts of the great Southern area around Frankland River would appear to have had it easier, although botrytis has also been a problem in some of its whites. Similarly, Pemberton has experienced a cool, damp prelude to vintage. Please login to post comment