The Auswine Forum

In todays Advertiser the story re the affect the heat is having on Vintage

Wine Growers Vicious Vintage

Th wine industry is calling it the vicious vintage. The states record heatwave has thrown wine regions into chaos, with prolonged high temperatures accelerating grape ripening to a critical point and putting pressure on production facilities which are full with crushed fruit and fermenting juice.

Grape growers in regions where red grapes are still on the vine have estimated their volume losses are now more than 10 percent, wine grape growers Australian chief Mark McKenzie said.

"It's been a very nasty end to vintage for South Australian growers" he said.

Regions expevted to be most affected by the heatwave are Langhorne Creek, Barossa, Mclaren Vale and Clare.
One Langhorne Creek grower reported his grapes were ripe this week but he could not book space in a wine processing plant for two weeks.

In the Barossa, red varieties such as shiraz and cabernet had begun to shrivel in the sun as vine leaves yellowed and dropped, leaving fruit to further exposure.

Turket Flat vigneron Peter Schultz estimated his Tanunda fruit had lost 5 percent volume each day in the past week.

"I havent seen a vintage like this and Ive been doing them for 35 years" Mr Schultz said.

Fire Damage Vineyards

Magpie Springs Vineyard at Willunga lost a substantial part of this years crop on Thursday night.

Link to their website

http://www.about-australia.com/travel-g ... d-gallery/

Although I would agree that the fruit still on the vine during the heat has been badly affected, the quality of fruit that was picked before the big heat was sensational.

We picked a couple of weeks before the heat and the wine now in barrel looks fantastic. I suspect this will be a classic split vintage.

I agree David. Too many people leaving it to the last minute witthout even knowing where they were going to crush. Shame on them for letting such great grapes go to waste. Shame, Shame, Shame...

Why not pick the grapes, dry the bunches and make the wine "appassimento" style. It would be know as the great South Australian Amarone vintage There already are some good wines made in SA by the appassimento method. My favourite is Torzi Matthews Frost Dodger Shiraz. Excellent stuff.

Gustav
A sound idea - though I'm guessing a lot of space and the right set-up is required? Any other options ... refridgeration? Pick and ship out of state to a winery with spare capacity?

I guess the danger always exists that a large chunk of the grapes need to come off at the same time. If that only occurs once a decade I suspect winemakers will just have to live with it, but if it happens every other year, then yes they have a logistical problem they need to resolve pronto.

regards

Ian

Ian S wrote:I guess the danger always exists that a large chunk of the grapes need to come off at the same time. If that only occurs once a decade I suspect winemakers will just have to live with it, but if it happens every other year, then yes they have a logistical problem they need to resolve pronto.

Ian,

It seems like it is happening more and more often. The problem is that most producers do not have the capacity required to manage this situation.

I remember when we visited Yalumba they told us they could process 20% of their entire c-though requirements in one night (and still have time to get to the pub before closing.... well almost. ) There are very few wineries that have that sort of capacity but with the way things are going, if you don't you will be processing a load of dead fruit.