Western Australian wineries are staring down the barrel of another lower-than-average vintage, with a spell of hot weather hitting some Swan Valley crops hard.
Western Australian wineries are staring down the barrel of another lower-than-average vintage, with a spell of hot weather hitting some Swan Valley crops hard.
Yields are down across the state after a cool 2005 spring and dry 2006 winter left vines bearing fewer bunches with below-average sized grapes.
This year’s vintage is already under way, more than a fortnight early, after a warm spring and summer sped up the ripening process.
It is a stark contrast to the 2006 harvest, which started three weeks late after cooler weather slowed grape development.
And, while the 2006 vintage proved spectacular for white varieties, early signs this year point toward a great year for red wine production.
The white varieties have been a concern for several Swan Valley producers, with losses of up to 30 per cent after an extremely hot Australia Day long weekend left berries sun and heat damaged.
Faber Vineyards owner John Griffiths said he had lost about 25 per cent of his white fruit, while his overall intake was expected to be half as much as usual due to smaller berries and bunches.
Mr Griffiths said the hot weather came just as the fruit was ready to harvest, which did not leave enough time to get the grapes off the vines before they fell victim to sun damage.
Talijancich Wines winemaker James Talijancich said that, while the searing heat had not destroyed grapes at the vineyard, his white grape harvest would be between 15 per cent and 20 per cent lower than average because of smaller yields.
Mr Talijancich said it was too early to determine how much red fruit would be harvested, but he was picking red varieties at the beginning of February for the first time.
“Last year we had our latest vintage we have ever had and this year it is the earliest,” Mr Talijancich told WA Business News.
Houghton Winery winemaker Rob Bowen said the Swan Valley vineyard had lost 10 per cent of its white grapes due to the heat.
At Sittella, winemaker Matt Bowness said the vineyard lost about 10 per cent of its verdelho crop.
Winemakers said the warm weather had not hit the south West as hard, but there were signs of distress on some vines. In particular, some vine leaves had been burnt, causing them to fall off the vine, which results in grapes continuing to develop but lacking intense flavours.
Hay Shed Hill winemaker Michael Kerrigan said his fruit had not been damaged by heat, and Vasse Felix winemaker Virginia Wilcox said the winery’s fruit was in “excellent condition”.
Mr Griffiths, who is president of the Wine Industry Association of WA, said the smaller vintage would be a “pressure release” for the industry, which had suffered in the past few years from a significant oversupply off the back of increased plantings in the late 1990s.
Last year’s harvest was about 20 per cent lower than the previous year’s 79,948 tonnes.
Mr Griffiths said winemakers in the South West who were waiting to see how their season panned out before contacting growers in the Swan Valley for fruit could get caught short.
“There are growers looking for a home for their fruit but there is no point coming to them in five weeks looking for it because it needs to come off the vines in the next two to three weeks,” he said.
Wineries on the east coast of Australia are also expected to harvest a smaller crop after drought, frost and fires decimated vineyards.
One industry source told WA Business News this week that the bigger wineries were predicting the national crush would be as much as a third below the average.
