23 Feb Dave’s Vintage News
This season we had a very dry winter resulting in earlier bud-burst by 7 to 10 days. Fortunately good rains in early summer provided some relief. Mild conditions during flowering provided good fruit set. Early canopy management has eased the disease pressure following the 2 weeks of abnormally wet and humid weather in late January.
Bird pressure has been higher than normal with no Marri flowering. This was most evident in our strawberry and tomato patch at home, so netting the vineyard was brought forward 1 week for the Chardonnay and 2 weeks for the reds. This was completed by mid-January. I suspect vineyards who have delayed netting will face significant disease pressure from the bird peck, high humidity and summer rains. The balance between fruit and foliage is very good with average yields predicted. Current baume readings indicate we are on track to pick early March for the Chardonnay and the Cabernets, Malbec and Shiraz late March/early April. Cyclones or unforseen weather events aside, we look set to have an excellent 2011 vintage! Cheers Dave
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