In 1981, the Australian Wine Industry was in bad shape. Classic old
vines, used to make fortifieds and 'old vine shiraz' were being removed
and big companies were pulling out of the industry. Twenty four year
old Geoff Hardy had recently graduated from Roseworthy Agricultural
College and had seen how the Californians were grafting old vines
over to new varieties such as Chardonnay. Geoff formed a partnership
with Ian Leask who already had a solid history in viticulture and
was then managing the Ryecroft Vineyards. An old vine vineyard was
available for sale and this is how "Pertaringa" - (Aboriginal
for "Belonging to the Hills") - was born.
Ian Leask & Geoff Hardy
Today the partnership between Ian & Geoff is still strong. Ironically,
Pertaringa’s old vine fruit is now sought after by many of Australia's
leading wine companies for use in their top end wines!
In 1997 a cellar door was added to the vineyard complex making a visit
to the vineyard even more rewarding. Pertaringa Vineyard’s cellar
door is the perfect place to taste the highly regarded wines that
come from this vineyard. The rustic cellar door is so close to the
vines that during vintage a visitor can feel the energy of harvest
time.
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2001 Vintage Report
Chardonnay was off the vines by the 16th March at ripe Baume levels.
Semillon fared well, with harvest completed on the 11th March and very
good flavours displayed.
"Patience is a virtue for making top reds from this region,
this year", said John Glaetzer, senior red winemaker for Wolf
Blass Wines. "Flavour intensities are changing daily, which
makes picking time critical." Sixty-five per cent of the red
harvest is completed and the wines are exceptionally rich and full-bodied.
While some sunburn and shrivel was apparent this vintage, there is a
lot of concentration of flavours and deep colours, with Cabernet Sauvignon
being the standout variety at this stage, particularly off the Tamar
vineyard. Shiraz picking is just finishing and Cabernet will be finished
on 24th March. Grenache harvest has just begun, with 14.5º Baume and
great colour and flavours showing. The Ingoldby Road Block vineyard
Grenache is looking particularly strong.
2002 Vintage Report
Regular rainfall throughout winter and early spring ensured good soil
moisture levels and strong vineyard growth. Low temperatures and wet
conditions during veraison disrupted flowering and resulted in an uneven
fruit-set. However, excellent growing conditions during a cool summer
before a relatively warm autumn ensured the crop reached peak ripeness.
The nature of the season caused flavours to develop in the grapes later
than usual, meaning that extensive flavour tasting was critical to ensure
the correct time of picking. Yields overall were low with small bunches
and berries.
The cool season resulted in a high quality crop that combined the traditional
rich depth of flavour of McLaren Vale fruit with a refined nature and
clear varietal character. According to Rosemount Winemaker Charles Whish
'2002 in McLaren Vale is right up there with the great ‘98 vintage.
The wines are more elegant but equally powerful'.
The white varieties are rated as excellent with the highlight being
Chardonnay, which displays strong fruit flavours and a rich mid palate.
Shiraz was a standout, showing distinct varietal clarity with a depth
of ripe plummy fruit and no signs of over-ripeness.
Charles Whish describes Cabernet Sauvignon as 'equal to the best McLaren
Vale Cabernet I have ever seen', with real density of flavour and tremendous
length whilst retaining varietal definition and cool season characters.
Grenache is equally strong with spicy ripe varietal fruit characters
and great complexity.
2003 Vintage Report
This region should experience a good, strong year after having an early-to-mid
growing season, similar to the Barossa but with slightly lower cropping
levels. Twenty millimetres of rain fell in late February although this
will not cause significant problems to the harvest. The region experienced
warmer conditions resulting in rapidly advancing grape maturity. The
Chardonnay harvest is in full swing and expected to be completed by
the first week of April. The fruit is showing great potential and is
of the highest quality for many years. The early wines in barrels are
displaying excellent flavours and depth, without fatness. The Cabernet
Sauvignon harvest began late March and promises good, typical McLaren
Vale style. The Shiraz also looks set to stand out, with intense white
pepper and spice, enormous fruit characters and good colour but without
overweight alcohol. Shiraz yields are down 30 - 40%, Cabernet Sauvignon
is slightly down and the Chardonnay has produced average yields. The
last of the grapes should come off in mid-April. The region is currently
running one-to-two weeks early. McLaren Vale is currently 36% of the
way through harvest. Overall the yield is 20% below expectations due
to the dry summer producing lower-than-average bunch weights. However,
the quality is still there and the vintage is pleasing.
2004 Vintage Report
A longer than usual vintage, attributed to cool conditions during ripening, will produce quality wines. Good winter and spring rainfall ensured even budburst and enabled growers to maintain adequate soil moisture for maintenance of healthy grapevine canopies, from veraison to harvest, contributing to optimum flavour development. A warm dry November saw a rapid flowering period which was followed by good berry set, and a quick even veraison. The coolest January in 12 years, followed by above average temperatures in February and dry conditions leading into harvest, maximised fruit flavours, sugar and acid levels. Despite two days in February above 44°C, shrivel and sunburn was minimal due to good canopies filtering the damaging effects of direct sunlight. As a result fruit condition at harvest was excellent. Source: http://www.winebiz.com.au
2005 Vintage Report
After a reasonably wet winter across the region the vines burst well with good early shoot growth. As a consequence there were large canopies which played a part in the faster-than-usual ripening period. McLaren Vale had a milder-than-usual summer with very few days of extreme temperatures, resulting in an excellent, even ripening period. Consequently, vintage started up to two weeks earlier with the first whites coming off very early in February.
Semillon and Riesling were particularly affected by a rain event mid veraison. Overall, wineries are reasonably pleased with the quality of the fruit and some have commented that the Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon are looking particularly good this year. Grenache was also of a very high standard too, despite multiple reports of botrytis infections as the Baumes climbed.
Attaining sugar ripeness was not an issue, with very high Baumes being recorded before the onset of flavour ripeness. Some were caught out by the rapid rise in Baume finding that their fruit was far more advanced than they expected. Wineries were also put under pressure with the fruit appearing to ripen all together—particularly Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon which makes up in excess of 70 per cent of McLaren Vale’s planted area.
Current estimates put the total crush for region 10-15 per cent down on last year. After last year’s record crush (71,595 tonnes) and the current state of the market for some cool-climate varieties, this is a very welcome decrease. There was a quantity of uncontracted red varieties left on the vine this year too, as well as the odd row left behind due to strict winery contract stipulations. Source: http://www.winebiz.com.au
2006 Vintage Report
In terms of overall quality the 2006 vintage was very good, with most whites varieties, Shiraz, Mouvedre, Cabernet and Petit Verdot being the highlights, according to Chester Osborn of d’Arenberg Wines.
A dry winter followed by heavy rains in spring resulted in vines with healthy, balanced canopies on most soils. A mild early summer leading into a warmer period during veraison stopped vegetative growth allowing vines to channel energy into the fruit.
Tim Geddes, winemaker at Wayne Thomas Wines has been impressed with the quality of Cabernet and some parcels of Shiraz which reached flavour ripeness at a lower Baume than usual.
“However, Grenache may have ripened too quickly for optimum flavour development,” Tim said.
David Sanderson of the Hardy Wine Company said fruit quality had been good to exceptional, with low disease incidence and good canopy protection, particularly in whites. He commented that “[While] hot weather caused some stress in late summer, balanced vines had shown the greatest resilience and the highest potential”.
This season was particularly challenging with Downy Mildew primary and secondary events and weather conditions favourable to Powdery Mildew. Despite these challenges the majority of fruit was clean and disease free at harvest, contributing to the overall quality. Botrytis and other bunch rots were not a problem this vintage as no significant rainfall events occurred during the ripening period.
Growers and winemakers are reporting a mixture of tonnages; the majority have observed crops to be 20-30% lower than in 2005, however, others have reported increased fruitfulness, fruit set and bunch weight. It appears cropping levels varied across the region and have possibly been influenced by wetter than usual soil profiles in some areas, pruning and other management practices implemented in response to the changing market demand and the usual seasonal effects. Source:http://www.winebiz.com.au
2007 Vintage Report
James Hook, in McLaren Vale, notes that it's a drought vintage but a rainstorm started it. The McLaren Vale vineyards had been spared the spring frosts that had massacred so much of south-eastern Australia, but it couldn’t dodge the rain bullet. Three days of rain from 19 January saw the McLaren Vale receive 55mm of rain (parts of the Eden Valley received 75mm). This was the most rain in a week since winter; since before last winter.
The rain and humidity caused berry splitting - locally called laughing berries because they look like PACMAN - in reality no joke to the concerned farmers. Fortunately warm dry weather followed and most fruit healed up, improving the potential of the season. Split sugary fruit is a major botrytis risk.
Harvest for sparkling wine began after the canopies had dried. The first pinot noir and chardonnay base wine was picked on Australia Day. This was two weeks earlier than typical. Table white wines, verdelho, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay were again into the winery earlier than normal.
John Hugo from Hugo Wines harvested his chardonnay one week earlier than any harvest in its 25 year history. “Sometimes we pick in March. The earliest we had picked was the 7 February. This season we beat that by 4 clear days.” Demand for the grapes was high - Hugo’s chardonnay was on sold to another winery that was short of it.
This is proving true for many of the districts white wine growers. High demand but no product to sell. The early harvest this year is due to much lower crop levels than a normal season. The drought and the effects of splitting reduced crops by up to 50%. The legion of seasonal grape pickers are already finding the pickings thin. Wineries looking to fill export quota’s are searching hard to source extra fruit that is clean and in good shape.
The McLaren Vale reds, the all-important reds. Crops for shiraz and cabernet sauvignon are estimated to be significantly down on last season. Expect to see more of a scramble for fruit. The quality is expected to be high, but with such strange weather compared to what is the normal, all bets are off.
The only thing that is certain is the harvest is going to be a whirlwind. It's going to last weeks, not months. The regions growers and winemakers are hoping for a cool and dry March to make this as ideal as possible.
Source: http://www.winefront.com.au
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