Coonawarra winemakers are welcoming the arrival of warmer weather and ideal conditions are predicted for the season ahead.

Coonawarra Vignerons Association President Daniel Redman said the vines were currently into the flowering stage and said the weather was looking great for this.

“It really looks like it could be another really nice year at the moment with this weather coming up for the flowering, which is quite crucial, and the warm weather has timed its run perfectly,” he said.

“So far so good.

“At the moment the bunch numbers look good, this is quite crucial flowering with when the berries form on the bunches so this nice weather will speed things through on that.

“It looks like we are going to get a nice bunch set assuming it goes through with this nice weather.”

Mr Redman said once vines were through the flowering stage outcomes could be predicted further and said winemakers hoped for ideal weather conditions going forward.

“Generally we have got astute viticulturalists and winemakers around that we tend to still make good-quality wine year in, year out,” he said.

In regards to downy mildew, which can arise due to warm, rainy weather, Mr Redman was not concerned about this disease presenting an issue.

“There are bits and pieces around but most people have it under control and it is not severe enough to be causing any problems around the place,” he said.

“Now with the science that we have you generally know which rain events are going to cause that and then getting around the vineyards people know what they are looking for these days.

“Most people have preventative sprays out to try and stop that.

“But even if they did find something you can then re-apply different sprays to stop it spreading and getting worse.

“Nowadays with weather forecasting and what’s happening you can be pretty prepared for what is going to go on within the season, most of the time you can pretty well make sure that you do not have those diseases happening.”