Ben Canaider in this article in The Age discusses the disastrous effects of smoke on some vineyards in Victoria last vintage. He quotes Graeme Ray of the Boggy Creek Vineyards in the King Valley who will not be releasing any wine for the 2007 Vintage.

“Midway through December, after the Whitfield fires, we thought that we had a problem; that the smoke was going to heavily affect the grape skins and their flavour. Then, in January, when the Tatong fires came to within 200 metres of the vineyard, we knew the grapes were gone. There was just too much smoke.”

The Australian Wine Research Institute is conducting research into the problem, including how to assess grapes at picking to determine the level of contamination and what can be done to remove the off flavours. At present some heavy handed methods can be used to remove the smoke taint, the problem is these methods also remove most of the flavour of the wine.

Boggy Creek, along with many other wineries who have skipped the 2007 vintage are hoping for better luck next year.

This report is from Peter Fyffe from Glenwillow Vineyard near Yandoit/Daylesford in the southern part of the Bendigo Region in Central Victoria.

“The 2007 season was a stinker for us because of 2 severe frosts in September/October 2006. As a result our yield was down by 90% from our normal vintage.

“Our vineyard is normally frost free because of slope, elevation and location. The two Italian varieties, Barbera and Nebbiolo were worst affected as they are quite frost-sensitive grapes.

“The quality of our wine for 2007 will be quite good, but not fantastic. The secondary vine growth from frost resulted in some variability. However low yields will compensate for this and improve overall quality.

“Although we will not have much wine for 2007 we will have the following range of wines from 2006:
* Reserve shiraz,
* Sparkling cabernet/shiraz
* Nebbiolo

“Our 2005 Reserve shiraz won a gold medal at the Australian & New Zealand Small Winemakers show in Brisbane in 2006. We are very proud of this achievement.

See Vinodiversity’s page on the Bendigo region

The 2007 vintage in Queensland has returned mixed results according to Ken Gargett in an article in  the Courier Mail.  Growers whose crops were not destroyed by frosts had problems with continuing drought and irrigation water running out. Some even had wild pigs starved out of their bush habitat coming into ripening crops for a feed of ripening grapes.

Those who were lucky enough to get a crop report high quality, due to dry conditions allowing disease free ripening.  See the full report here.

The McLaren Vale Vintage in 2007 was a trying one. All blocks for Lazy Ballerina were harvested at least 2 weeks earlier than 2004, 05 and 06. The drought had the effect of bringing ripening on rapidly. The time between veraison and harvest took less than 45 days.

Yields in the Lazy Ballerina Shiraz vineyard on California Rd, west of the township, were down about 30%. This was significant but not as much as many other vineyards in the district. The vineyard cropped at 1.6t/acre. Normally it would yield about 2t/acre. Inside the winery the seeds were more bitter than previous seasons. The wine was kept in fermenters for 2 weeks before pressing off.

Pressing was very light to avoid too much bitterness being extracted in the wine. Most of the wine put to barrel was ‘free run’ not pressed at all. Extraction rates were very low. Only 500 lts of wine were produced per tonne of grapes. This has reduced the production level of this wine for 2007 release.

Production of the 2007 Shiraz Viognier for the first time comes from 3 separate vineyards due to the reduced yields.

The traditional vineyard that was taken for 2005, and 06 Shiraz/Viognier had lower than normal yields, below 2 tonne to the ha, but Lazy Ballerina was able to obtain two new vineyards. The two new starters were from the Blewitt Springs sub-region of McLaren Vale. These two vineyards have deep sandy soils. The lack of any significant rain this season helped control vigour and limit and excessive vine growth. Canopies were open and good levels of light fell on the fruit. No sunburn was seen. We had been working with these vineyards for a few years and this year they really made the grade.

It is possible that some of this Blewitt Spring material will be kept separate and released as a ‘Special Single Vineyard.’ The quality looks very good with excellent colour and flavour. Again the ferments were long- 14 days and the pressing gentle (in a basket press of course!). Extraction rates were again very low, but the wine does have good potential.

Hope for the results is the sliver lining to the drought vintage cloud.

Oranje Tractor Wine vintage report 2007

Pam Lincoln of Oranje Tractor Wine has sent the following report from Albany in the Great Southern Zone of Western Australia.

Dry as a dead dingo’s…u know the rest!

The often damp south coast was delightfully dry this season, bringing vintage forward a massive 6 weeks earlier than last year, and about 2 weeks earlier than ever before. Also, the harvest was compacted with only two weeks between the first varieties picked (Riesling, Sauvignon blanc, and Pinot nior) and the second lot (Shiraz and Merlot).

Fruit quality is good, and in our vineyard the most disease-free it’s ever been. Yields are slightly below average…primarily due to wet and windy conditions at fruit set. It’s a little too early to tell about wine quality, but I’d gamble on saying it’s gonna be good or better.

My impression from around the neighbourhood is that this is likely to be the case across the region. April rains often wreak havoc or at least force us to pick at a time less than desired, so having the fruit off by now is good for the ticker!

We’re making a Rose (Shiraz), Port (Pinot noir), Sparkling Riesling (called Sparkplug), German style Riesling (Half Trocken), and Merlot. Some of these are new, some not….but none due to seasonal conditions.

Frost Damage to Vineyards

Frost, the wrath of grapes

Sly night-stalker culls the vines

Bare vats, wine unborn

The haiku above is by Martin Field, who writes an excellent wine newsletter called evine. Contact him via http://www.stratsplace.com/martin/index.html if you wish to get subscription info.

Frost can completely destroy a vintage. The incidence of frost damage is very dependent on topography. Even in widespread severe frosts which occured throughout Eastern Australia in the Spring of 2006 many vineyards on sites with good air drainage were unscathed while nearby vineyards were completely wiped out.

Frosts tend to be more severe in drought years, so some vintages, like that of 2007, suffer a double whammy effect.

The most critical time for frost damage is just after budbreak in spring. As budbreak occurs at different times for different varieties a vineyard can experince the total loss of one grapes of one variety, while another variety will be almost completely unaffected.

A variety of measures are used to try to minimise frost damage. Site selection is the most important. In inland regions this means selecting sites with good slope. Appropriate varieties need to be selected for the local climate. High trelissing and late pruning to delay budburst are management techniques that seek to frost damage . Slashing and soil cultivation during the danger period of spring are also used.

When a frost is expected sprinkler irrigation systems can help by wrming the air and providing moisture which freezes outside the vine tissue. This releases latent heat and can help prevent the cell sap from freezing. Of course in a drought there may not be any water available.

Wind machines, helicopters and smudgepots are used in attempt to disperse the temperature inversions that can trap cold air over a vineyard.

But even with the most energetic preventative methods severe frosts will always cause damage.

Amietta vineyard is in the Moorabool subregion of the Geelong region of Victoria. It is to the North of the City of Geelong and hence away from the benign maritime climate of the Belllarine Peninsula. Amietta are pioneers of the Lagrein variety in the region, and also and the still-unrevealed ‘Secret Variety 1′.

Winemaker Nicholas Clark has provided the following report of the 2007 vintage at Amietta.

A long hot summer for vines and vignerons
After the hottest 10 years on record (globally) this year’s severe water restrictions across the southern Australia have forced most of us to realise that what we are experiencing is not a drought, it’s climate change. The weather is hotter, there is less rainfall, more evaporation and greater severity of extreme events. In our region, many vineyards were hit by a number of severe frosts in late Spring, and then had little or no water to help the vines recover. Fortunately our Amietta vineyard is on a steep slope, so was unaffected by frost, and we’ve had just enough water to keep the vines growing healthily. The yields are likely to be lower (due to reduced soil-water availability) but if we can avoid water-stress during ripening, the fruit quality should be good. On the positive side, the hot, dry weather has meant that the risk of mildew has been very low. The vines have only had one spray (an organic mix of seaweed powder, sulphur and canola oil) for the entire growing season.

The earliest harvest on record.

We had barely finished getting the nets onto the vines (to protect the fruit from birds) in late February, when our first sampling for ripeness revealed that this was going to be a very early vintage. Last vintage (2006) was the earliest on record – fully 5 weeks earlier than the historical average date for our locality. This year, it was one week earlier again. Another feature was that grape varieties that normally ripen a couple of weeks apart, instead ripened together – putting pressure on our small winery space. We picked Chardonnay on Monday 5th of March, Riesling on Tuesday 6th and the ripest Shiraz block on Friday 9th of March. It was an unbelievable – and busy – start to vintage.

By Easter we will have picked all our varieties including the late-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon and Secret Variety 1.

2007 grape harvest to be ‘smallest in seven years’
– but quality prospects are good

Statement by AWBC on 27 Feb 2007.
At just over half complete, the 2007 Australian winegrape harvest is expected to come in at 1.35 million tonnes, making it the smallest harvest since 2000 and a third smaller than total production in 2006, according to an assessment released today by the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation.
The Corporation’s Manager, Information and Analysis, Lawrie Stanford said if the current estimate eventuates, Australian winemakers will have 400 million litres less wine than last year.
“The 2007 harvest stands out as one in which seasonal conditions are conspiring to reduce yields (tonnes per hectare) to levels which would be a 30-year low. The national vineyard this season was subjected to frost, drought, early-harvest rain episodes and every prospect of a hot/dry finish,” Mr Stanford said.
“As a result, yields in 2007 are expected to be around 35% down on the average of the last three years. This reduction will be only marginally offset by an expected 2% increase in hectares of bearing vines after at least five years of subdued planting.”
Mr Stanford said several factors point to good but not exceptional prospects for quality: most importantly, it has been a relatively disease free season. In addition, smaller berry sizes and lower bunch weights this season are expected to increase colour and flavour intensity.
He said the 2004, 2005 and 2006 harvests were all above average at around 1.8 to 1.9 million tonnes and the smaller 2007 harvest is a ‘compensator’ for the supply load from these seasons.
He emphasised that a firm harvest forecast is still some time away with more than half the red winegrape crop to be picked and about a third of the whites. The 2007 harvest commenced two to six weeks early, with many regions indicating that was the earliest in living memory.
“The 2007 crush has proved difficult for the industry to accurately predict with the extraordinary conditions providing previously unexperienced conditions for many,” Mr Stanford said. “In these circumstances, vineyard owners are finding that, on harvesting, there are fewer tonnages to be cropped than was previously estimated during the ripening period.”
Mr Stanford said it was possible that the estimate of 1.35 million could prove to be too high and the Corporation will release its second harvest update in April with the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia to release another assessment in June.
“Yields in cooler-climate regions were more reduced than those in the warm-inland districts because of the concentration of frost incidences in the cooler districts that added to the effect of drought. Yields in the warm-inland regions (Riverland, Murray Darling/Swan Hill and Riverina) are anticipated to be down 32% on last year with the cooler climate regions down 42%,” he said.
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“Reds were more affected than whites by the seasonal conditions with yields thought to be 40% down compared to a 29% decline in whites. The higher proportion of reds in the cooler-climate regions would have contributed to the greater effects on reds than whites.”
Mr Stanford said severe drought conditions were experienced across much of Australia and frost events occurred on a sporadic basis, principally in the cooler-climate districts.
“It is notable that the harsh 2007 conditions are likely to have carryover effects into the 2008 harvest by virtue of poor development of the primordial buds that sit behind those flowering this year (and which will produce fruit next year),” he said.
“This, together with expectations of reduced irrigation water availability in the warm-inland districts, means the industry looks with some concern to the 2008 season. There is the full expectation that yields will again be reduced in 2008.”
Mr Stanford said while some individual grapegrowers will suffer financial hardship from smaller crops, from a whole-of-industry perspective, the prospect of a very low yielding season will be viewed with some relief as it will allow excess wine stocks to be reduced to more reasonable levels and accelerate a return to more sustainable operating conditions.
The smaller 2007 harvest has firmed up the Corporation’s assessment, released in November last year, that a return to supply-demand balance is a likely scenario by 2008 or 2009.
The Corporation is the federal statutory authority responsible for regulating Australian wine exports, the global Wine Australia marketing program, collating and analysing Australian wine sector statistics, assisting Australian wine producers and exporters with trade access issues, and defining and protecting Australia’s wine regions.

Chrismont in the King Valley have issued a press release stating that they will not be producing a vintage in 2007.

The 2006/2007 growing season has proven to be challenging for Chrismont, indeed, all primary producers in the King Valley. Following the combined effects of two early spring frosts and three major bush fire events, Chrismont has made the business decision not to produce a vintage in 2007.

You can read the full press release here.

The 2007 Vintage in Australia has been one of the most challenging in memory.  It started out badly when severe spring frosts over wide areas of South Eastern Australia caused severe damage to may vineyards.

Widespread drought over several years means that soil moisture levels  in many vineyards are very low and there is little or no water for irrigation.

Several wine regions were shrouded by smoke from bushfires.  Smoke caused  problems in previous vintages; the full extent of the damage to wine quality in 2007 is not known.

Unusually high summer temperatures has also caused grapes to ripen earlier. In very high temperatures the ripening process can be disturbed with detrimental effects on quality. Growers have reported that vintage dates for early and late varieties have been compressed, leading to scheduling problems in picking and processing.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Some regions, and some particular sites were not effected by the factors above.  The effects were not the same over all varieties, there has been a mosiac of different effects even within the same region.