Grape harvest rolls on, even if it rains

Hahndorf Hill owners Larry Jacobs and Marc Dobson and pooch Nero, with their valuable harvest of Gruner Veltliner. Picture: TRICIA WATKINSON

RAIN, hail or shine. That was the mantra this week at Adelaide Hills winery Hahndorf Hill as a week of cooler and wet weather threatened to delay the 2012 grape-picking season.

In the Hills, with its prized sauvignon blanc grapes ripe and ready along with other white varieties, the vintage was well under way despite the unseasonal temperatures and rain, according to Adelaide Hills Wine Region president Darren Golding.

"The vintage has cranked up pretty well now," he said.

Yields are down about 20 per cent on normal figures, as they are in many regions, and the fruit disease pressures that jeopardised last year's wine grape crop also seem to have been held in check, Mr Golding said.

"The wet weather now is just a pain in the you know where," he said.

Remaining upbeat, Hahndorf Hill proprietor Larry Jacobs has been removing bird nets all week and begun to bring in the third harvest of one of the Hills' rising star grape varieties, a native Austrian white called Gruner Veltliner, affectionately known and pronounced "Grooner".

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.

End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.

With about 12 growers now producing the variety and two dedicated wineries braving Australia's competitive market with the highly regarded wine style - the other being K1 by Geoff Hardy - Mr Jacobs says there's a real buzz in the Hills about Gruner Veltliner.

"It's a wonderfully exciting variety," he said. "There's a sense of momentum in the region and it's just starting to take off. We want to put our own regional stamp on it."

One of the Grooner's fortunate traits coming from Austria is it's loving the Hills' colder nights, which help the grapes to cool off in the usually hot summer and early autumn ripening period.

"Instead of ripening too quickly, the cooler temperatures here allow a bit more hang time for the grapes to develop more intense flavours," Mr Jacobs said.

"Everyone talks about cool climate, but the fact is the variety really flourishes up here. We're very happy about how it's going."