We’re inching ever closer to harvest here in the Hills.

In fact, some early ripening varieties have already been harvested in a handful of locations.

As I’ve eluded to in past blogs, we can now safely say that this vintage is shaping up to be a pretty difficult one. And these are the reasons why…

• it’s late,
• it has a higher than usual level of disease pressure, and
• it may be delayed even further if we’ve seen the end of the nice warm summery weather and autumn takes over sooner rather than later.

Let’s take a look at what last week’s CropWatch report had to say…

 

That little red line has finally caught up. Yay, little red line… I knew you could do it!

Not to make it feel bad, after all, “slow and steady wins the race”, but check out the difference between it and all those other lines.

 

Each year, CropWatch gets access to Harvest plans from growers in Macclesfield and Lenswood.

This vintage, if everything goes according to plan, here’s what those growers are expecting…

Macclesfield

Harvest begins: 17th March

Harvest Ends: 12th May

Lenswood

Harvest begins: 24th March

Harvest Ends: 14th April

 

It was a very different story in back in 2020…

Macclesfield

Harvest begins: 19th February

Harvest Ends: 2nd April

Lenswood

Harvest begins: 19th February

Harvest Ends: 12th March

 

That’s 4-5 weeks earlier!

 

OK, so we have definitely established that things are happening a lot later this year.

So, now let’s talk about disease pressure and why it’s so bad this vintage.

The biggest headache for growers this year is…

Botrytis

Botrytis cinerea is a necrotrophic (a parasite that kills its host, then feeds on the dead matter – delightful!) fungus that affects many plant species. It really loves wine grapes though and is commonly known as “botrytis bunch rot” or “grey mould”.

Botrytis is a wound pathogen (bug), meaning that it requires an entry point into grape tissue combined with optimal conditions for fungal development. That is…

• rainfall,
• high humidity (or long periods of surface moisture) and
• temperatures of 18-21°C.

And we’ve had all of that at various points through the season!

This vintage, the early growth stages were subject to wet and windy conditions. As a result, there were widespread reports of Botrytis in damaged leaves and shoots. Once a Botrytis infection has established itself, the number of spores increases in affected vineyards (because the happily growing fungus releases them into the environment). The risk of infection is usually manageable at flowering through the application of fungicides.
 
However!

We had moist conditions (both rainfall and morning dew) in the Hills during flowering. This meant that the little bits of the flower that normally fall off and blow away were trapped within bunches as they developed. This trapped material is a great place for Botrytis spores to hang out and hide from fungicide applications.

On top of this, there is also a lot of trapped leaf material amongst the canopies of the vines. They are unusually compact this season due to slow growth early in the season. That means leaves aren’t able to drop to the ground and this provides another awesome spot for spores to hang out and hide.

Luckily, we’ve had some pretty nice weather here this week. So growers have been busy trying to improve airflow around bunches (by cutting and pinning back leaves and shoots) to enhance drying.

Thinning of clumps of bunches can help reduce the spread of Botrytis infections. It also may be of benefit to remove infected bunches prior to harvest.

Whilst the removal of leaves around bunches may be of benefit, growers need to give this careful consideration seeing this can increase the risk of sunburn.

 

Loving our blog? Sign up for weekly updates straight to your inbox…

[withwine type=’join-mailing-list’]

 

The good news!

But there is some good news.

As I mentioned the weather this week has been stunning! It hasn’t been too hot and there has been plenty of sunshine. Which means we are super close to getting those grapes safely off the vine before anything else can happen!!)

I checked in with Rob and he thinks we should be starting harvest at the end of next week! How exciting!

And the truth of the matter is… rain, hail or shine, the grapes will (eventually) ripen, get picked and be turned into wine. So, it can’t all be bad, can it?!*

* Unless you’re a grower trying to keep those grapes as healthy as possible until then!

 

In other news…

Our 2022 Pinot Noir Rose has almost run out. And unfortunately, the next one won’t be ready until the grapes are picked and turned into wine by Rob! We’re thinking September at the earliest.

So, grab yourself a bottle or two (here or by email) before it’s all gone.

And…

Keep your eyes peeled for the announcement of the launch party (and associated specials!) of our brand-new 2021 Tempranillo Graciano!