2009 Vintage Report
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
“Drought conditions continued in the 2009 season with the lowest
rainfall recorded in our recent history … a measly 300mm,” commented
Richard Austin.
2009 Vintage Report
Quality fruit means a year for Reserve
As flagged in an earlier edition of In-t-wine, the 2009 vintage is a matter of mixed blessings.
“Drought conditions continued in the 2009 season with the lowest
rainfall recorded in our recent history … a measly 300mm,” commented
Richard Austin.
“This caused very low yields and was exacerbated by some extremely hot
days, four of them at 43-45°C. The resulting berry shrivel on the
exposed fruit lowered the yields even further.”
“Apart from those extreme heat days, it was generally a cool season and
harvest was about two weeks later than the last few seasons.”
This, together with the low volumes, has resulted in small amounts of high quality grapes.
“The bonus,” said Richard, “is that the Pinot Noir and Shiraz are
‘reserve-worthy’ and we will be rewarding our market with some
exceptional Reserve wines from the 2009 vintage.”