Heatwave crushes the grape harvest

Harvest 2009 may be the turning point for many vineyards contemplating water, climate and industry issues.

Some have already begun that journey as for others, harvest continues.

The three weeks in near record heatwave conditions in January left their mark.

At Swinging Bridge near Canowindra, Tom Ward said their white varieties are off the vines and they are halfway through harvesting the red varieties.

Although the heat wave was far from harmless, “we were pretty lucky, as it wasn’t quite as severe as what they had in Victoria and South Australia”, he said.

“The main issue in January was trying to keep the water up, but since then we had an extremely mild February.

“The yield tonnage is looking to be down 20 to 30 per cent.”

The heat did bring one benefit, limiting the size of the berries and intensifying the colour.

“Chardonnay will be very strong and the Shiraz and cabernet are showing some nice development.”

In the region’s south at Kalari, that January heatwave has given vineyard owners Valto and Pam Heikkinen cause to rethink just what they will do with their more affected grapes.

“We are lucky, in that the Verdelho, which is our signature variety, is ready earlier and came off the vines before the worst of the heat damage, but we have rethought our other grapes, and are now looking at doing a dessert wine, and a port, instead of table wines.

“It started as wonderful season, but then we had those fateful three weeks, which is really left us having to rethink what we do.”

While trying to maintain a positive outlook, Mr Ward, who’s also president of the Cowra Vineyard Association, admitted the industry wide downturn had left its affects locally, with some producers mothballing their harvest.

He said the extreme climatic conditions across the country were another challenge ahead for the industry, with South Australia and Victoria already facing issues with water security, raising questions for vineyards operators as to how they manage future dry conditions.

According to the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation, nationally harvest has past the halfway mark, with a preliminary estimates of 1.63 tonnes.

This would make the 2009 harvest well below the record 2005 harvest of 1.93 million tonnes but well above the drought and frost affected 2007 harvest of 1.34 million.