By gum we do love the midsummer time at Wine Rascal HQ. Admittedly a little late, but the sun has finally started to show its face in blighty, and we can now get out there, socialising and enjoying the fresh seasonal produce. We’ve certainly been making new friends in new places, and as all of us wine folk know, there are new vintages of wine being bottled right this minute in the Southern Hemisphere.
As we have done on past harvests, we reached out to our friends in Margaret River and New South Wales in Australia, and Robertson Valley of South Africa. The lovely folk at Churchview, Pig in the House and Cape Dreams respectively, have given us some fantastic insight into their climates and unique farming methods. So without further ado…
Sharon Bosveld | Churchview | Margaret River, Australia
Hi Sharon, What were the highlights of your harvest this year?
Highlight of the year would be the Chardonnays; they are just so well balanced for fruit and acidity. That would be followed closely by Shiraz which got beautiful tannin development and will be some of our best shiraz to date.
The last harvest for our vineyards in the Northern Hemisphere was full of record breaking yields and weather conditions, due to climate change. Has your harvest been affected in a similar way?
Our weather conditions, going by the last three year anyway, are not getting any warmer. If anything it’s cooler, which the old timers down here say is how things used to be. So there are some concerns in the way of climate change.
How are you preparing for different weather in the future?
If things do keep this way – like stay slightly cooler than the early 2000s then that will be a good thing for wine balance. Vineyard wise we will need to make sure we stay very focused on canopy management and disease control. Yield-wise we have picked close to our average amounts.
Dale Gatcum | Pig in the House | New South Wales, Australia
What were the highlights of your harvest this year?
We had a very dry and warm finish to the 2019 vintage. Shiraz once again produced wonderful blueberry and blackberry flavours from our organic vineyards.
The last harvest for our vineyards in the Northern Hemisphere was full of record breaking yields and weather conditions, due to climate change. Has your harvest been affected in a similar way?
We didn’t need the bureau of statistics to tell us that Jan 19 was the warmest driest month on record. Veraison was underway and this led to an extended veraison period in Cabernet and Merlot. Berry size was 30% below average years at this stage and this carried through to harvest weight.
How are you preparing for different weather in the future?
Soil health is important for increased moisture retention. We are increasing organic matter (currently sowing oats). We have also planted some trial blocks of “drought tolerant’’ varieties including Montepulciano and Nero d’Avola. We are using clay based sunscreen products to protect fruit, canopy management to allow shading of fruit from western sun, and we have a tree planting program.
Any other funny stories about the harvest?
At this busy time of the year we use casual labour which is normally EU back packers. One of the tractor drivers kept replying “no” when contacted over the UHF radio
Simon do you have a copy
NO
Simon do you have a copy
NO
At a later lunch we asked why he kept saying ‘no’ when asked if he had a copy.
His response was “I don’t drink coffee”.
Wahed Kahn | Cape Dreams | Robertson Valley, South Africa
The South African Wine Grape Harvest 2019 has hit a record low, largely due to the preceding drought and fluctuating weather conditions during the season. Winemakers are, however, extremely positive about the quality of this year’s vintage. This is the 2nd consecutive year that the total crop has decreased and although the total SA Wine crop is 1.4% lower than 2018, 2019 is the lowest since 2005.
The Robertson region also experienced the impact of the carry-over effects of the preceding drought and fluctuating weather conditions. Overall our own harvest was 13% lower than 2018 with less grapes especially for Sauvignon Blanc, Pinotage, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The strong winds and warm weather in October negatively affected the budding and flowering resulting in smaller fruit sets, less and uneven bunches resulting in smaller Berries with less juice yield.
The 2019 crop year will be remembered as a year of two halves – the first part early and healthy with positive analyses, and the second part late with grapes struggling to reach optimal ripeness. The vineyards matured about 7 to 14 days earlier than usual during the first half of the harvesting season. However, ripening was delayed as the season progressed especially after the rain in March.
We have a vigorous water conservation and management program in place to alleviate the impact of drought – there is more irrigation water available than previous years.
Although this was a challenging season with a significantly smaller wine grape crop, it resulted in surprisingly good quality! Grape analyses appear to be promising with high acidity levels and low ph levels. The grapes were very healthy with good colour and higher concentration of flavour which holds promise of good quality despite the challenges!