Grape harvest expected to be later than normal in some regions, due to drier winter

South Australia’s famed wine regions are gearing up for the 2019 grape harvest — so what kind of vintage can we expect this year? Here’s which drops to watch.

Tobreck Vintners chief winemaker Ian Hongell, pictured in the Barossa Valley. Picture: Matt Turner.

South Australia’s famed wine regions are tipped to have late harvests, with longer ripening periods expected to produce a good quality drop.

Vignerons Australia chief executive Anna Hooper said any threat of downy mildew from rain events last year was well-managed and he expected that grape yields would not be affected.

“There were significant rain events although due to the timing of those early in the season in Spring, it’s meant the vineyards are looking healthy,” Ms Hooper said. “Most regions have said it’s an average to slightly above average year.”

Ms Hooper said early indications from some wine regions are that harvest will be later than “what we’ve become accustomed to over the last few years”.

“The good thing about it being later is it puts us into cooler weather, so that’s a positive for quality and if we can put disease pressure at bay, it will be a good vintage,” she said.

Vignerons Australia chief executive Anna Hooper, pictured at her Cape Jaffa winery. Picture: Tom Huntley

South Australian Wine Industry Association chief executive Brian Smedley said with no significant heatwaves in the next fortnight “things are looking good”.

“A single day of 41C like we had Thursday is unlikely to have a huge impact, but if we were to have a week of hot weather, that could change everything,” he said.

Regionally, Langhorne Creek Grape & Wine executive officer Lian Jaensch said growers had been fortunate with low disease pressure and they had escaped downy mildew this season. Ms Jaensch expected the harvest to start with sparkling varieties at the end of the month.

Barossa Valley winemaker Ian Hongell said despite the drier conditions last year, the region’s vines were looking good — a testament to the work of viticulturists. “From a growing point of view, things have gone very well and it’s a testament to what the viticulturists do for SA,” Mr Hongell said.

Coonawarra Vignerons president Pete Balnaves, pictured among the vineyard at his property, Balnaves of Coonawarra. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

The chief winemaker at Torbreck Vintners believed their grenache and shiraz varieties would do well given “it will be more of a red vintage than a white vintage”. “The drier conditions tend to make stronger, tougher reds that have more colour extract and tannin which is a positive,” he said. Coonawarra Vignerons president Pete Balnaves said the South-East region was one of the few in SA to have above- average rainfall over winter, meaning the harvest was likely to be “quite fruitful”.

“Demand for premium quality fruit is also high and we’ve never seen higher prices than were paid last year and that demand looks good going forward,” Mr Balnaves said.

McLaren Vale is expected to have a “more typical year” with the harvest expected to start in March, according to Wine Grape Council of SA’s regional representative Andrew Press.