As Coonawarra’s vineyards burst into flower, winemakers are anticipating a promising vintage season.
Coonawarra Vignerons president Daniel Redman said the upcoming vintage season was looking great and was predicted to start two to three weeks early.
“With the forecast for the summer as a warm, dry summer, everything looks like it will be a little bit earlier this year, so that means we’re ripening up a little bit earlier,” he said.
“Often a dry year can mean – in a sense – you do not have to battle the elements of rain and coolness, but you just wait and see on that, you only worry about what you can control essentially.”
Amidst the delicate dance of flowering vines, Coonawarra’s winemakers find themselves on the brink of a crucial stage that could define the quality of the impending vintage.
“The critical period is around right now because it’s flowering time and the weather’s looking pretty good, and that can make or break the year a bit in the flowering stage,” Mr Redman said.
“So, if we have good weather over the next couple of weeks, all is looking pretty good for another good vintage in Coonawarra.
“When the vines flower, it is one of the several crucial stages because it means you get your bunch set,” Mr Redman said.
“If it’s a nice, even flowering you get a nice, even bunch and it grows in a nice, even sense, so you get a good bunch weight, a good berry size, you avoid ‘chicken and hen,’ which is the small berries and big berries.
“It can dictate your crop level a bit, too; if you get a bad flowering, it might lower your yields, but if you get a good flowering you should get your good bunch.
“Flowering is the first hurdle to get over, the berries form from flowering and then you get through the summer period in late January, early February, depending on variety, whites and reds.
“Then you start getting veraison, which is the change of (berry) colour from a green, pea-sized ball to when you start getting colour in the red grapes.”
Mr Redman said although the spring season had been dry with a slightly early bud burst, the vineyards were looking healthy and progressing positively.
“Irrigation has had to start a little bit earlier than what is desirable because you like those rains, but we’re lucky enough to have irrigation, it keeps the vines in a nice, healthy state,” he said.
“It’s looking like it’s going to be a good season ahead, all positive things.
“We got through spring with next to no frost damage throughout the region, everything is looking healthy and nice around the place.”
