Budburst was approximately 10 days late on 28/9/12 this year. This was due to lower soil temperatures due to the dryness. Although everything grew well early including the mid-row sward , some vines showed signs of stunting on weaker soils by mid-November.
At this stage in mid-December it is evident that many vines are need more rain. Forecasts are consistently over-estimating on thunderstorms but I am sure, as is typical in this type of drought, when it rains it will POUR!
With regard to Rainfall, we are currently 255 mm (50%) down on 2012 at this time and 150mm (30%) behind the long term average to end of November.
We are needing to do more shoot thinning this year so an expensive low crop vintage of Shiraz is likely… let’s hope the quality is really good!!
It has been very very dry with extended periods of record temperatures…refer to climatic data..
This has resulted in very low yields of intensely varietal Shiraz Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling from Barossa and Eden Valley.
We are truly stunned by the quality of this vintage! You can look forward to it with excitement.
We completed our harvest on the 13th March which is the earliest on record.
We have had a good small team of pickers from France who have served us well with our selective picking approach.
Barossa Vintage Festival will be a great celebration this year!