Our third industry expert from our summer 2022 edition of SA Farmer. Wine Grape Council of SA Region Two chair, Adrian Hoffmann, speaks about the wet conditions facing growers, the 2023 vintage, red varieties and vine health.
How have this year’s wetter conditions impacted vines?
Growth at this stage of the season has been quite slow because of the cold and wet.
Disease pressure is at a very high level. A bit of downy mildew and powdery mildew is being found already in vineyards.
Finding the right conditions to do spraying is a high priority. As soon as you can get on the vineyard, you’re out there trying to keep things under control.
You’re not seeing the same growth you would normally see, just because of the fact it is quite cold. There’s the consistent rain events coming through as well.
Most growers use a contact herbicide early in the season and that does the job, but it gets washed off. It means growers will need to go out for another round of spraying.
How will this impact next year’s vintage?
We’ll still get warm enough conditions, but stylistically it will be a bit different to what we’re used to in the Barossa. It will be more of a cooler-climate style wine.
Last year we saw a late harvest because of the cooler summer, and I think we’ll see that again this year. I think it’s going to be quite a late vintage.
The crop loading that’s out there looks quite good, and I don’t mind having a bit of extra grass hanging around to suck out a little moisture.
However, when it does dry out, it can dry out very quickly… so you have to be mindful of that from a management point of view as well.
How is the demand for red varieties looking?
Like everywhere, shiraz and cabernet have probably been a bit overdone, and I know there’s growers still looking for a home for their fruit.
Growers that were struggling to sell fruit last year will struggle again this year, and pricing is softening-off as well.
I would like to think most of the people who are looking after their vines would already have a market for their fruit, because I would be a bit reluctant to invest money into a patch that hasn’t been sold yet.
You don’t want to throw good money after bad, but you’ve still got to maintain and look after your vines if you’re trying to sell the fruit still.
Generally speaking you can get away with one or two sprays in a season, but this is the type of year where if you don’t look after your fruit from day one, you might be struggling to get through until the end, not just from a ripening point of view but from a disease point of view as well.
What is most important for the health of vines at the moment?
Get those fungicide sprays on and pre-protect for powdery and downy mildews, because once it’s in there there’s very few chemical routes you can use.
The chemical is just not available in Australia, because it’s been quite wet in the eastern states already and we have to share it around.
It’s all the long-term logistical areas where you need to be ahead this year.
