The 2022 vintage is now finished, marking the end of the busiest time of the year for Coonawarra winemakers.

Brand’s Laira chief winemaker Peter Weinberg said the 2022 vintage was another successful season which he rated highly.

“Like every year, no two vintage is the same and we saw that again this year. We had a nice season leading up to it, dry and low disease pressure,” he said.

Mr Weinberg said the season had shaped up to be a perfect vintage, however some rain in March caused a bit of a hiccup, which put a little disease pressure on.

“The rain and especially the humidity for that period in March caused a bit of worry out there amongst all the producers,” he said.

“People were a bit worried about their whites, but in the end it dried out and it stayed nice and warm.

“We had to get our whites off a little bit earlier because of pressures there, but the whites are still looking fantastic.”

Mr Weinberg said they were exceptionally happy with all the red varieties, particularly the shiraz, merlot and cabernet, which he said had great flavour, colour and structure.

“It was a bit of a waiting game just waiting for the cabernet to get ripe, especially before the rainy season started,” he said.

“Now everything’s off everywhere and everybody’s breathing a sigh of relief.”

Mr Weinberg described the previous 2021 vintage as “stunning because everything was perfect with good yields and excellent quality”, however 2022 still rated highly.

He rated the 2021 vintage a nine out of 10 and would give 2022 an eight and a half.

“This year the yields were a bit lower, but that’s probably a benefit in the market at the moment,” he said.

In regards to the market, Mr Weinberg said the best way to describe it was difficult and with the Chinese market essentially off the cards, there was lots of wine floating around.

“There’s a lot of competition out there, a lot of spare wine that’s looking for a home,” he said.

“In the long term it could certainly cause some structural issues, unless we find homes for all of the fruit that we grow and the wines we produce.”