Sun brings wine grape growers’ buds to burst

DRY conditions and warm weather have led to another early bud burst in parts of Victoria.

Glenmaggie Wines

DRY conditions and warm weather have led to another early bud burst in parts of Victoria.

Wine grape growers are reporting bud burst has been as much as two to three weeks early in some parts of the state, with the buds now at risk of frost damage.

This follows last year’s early season, where bud burst happened up to a week early.

Gippsland winemaker Tony Dawkins from Glenmaggie Wines said bud burst for his shiraz grapes had occurred nearly three weeks early.

“The chardonnay is shooting as well,” he said. “The cabernet hasn’t shot yet, thank goodness.”

Wine Victoria chair Damien Sheehan, who grows grapes in the Grampians, said bud burst had been earlier than the long-term average.

“Up here in the Grampians bud burst is no less than a week early,” he said. “It felt like it was going to be a very early season, but it didn’t eventuate.

“The risk with early buds is frost damage because it’s normal to get frosts at this time of year.”

Mr Sheehan said it might be another early harvest.

“The biggest concerns at the moment is that there hasn’t been enough rain,” he said. “A lot of people don’t have much water for the season. You tend to get an early season when things are droughty.”

Bud burst is due to soil temperature in the root zone of the plant.

The order of bud burst tends to happen by variety, with chardonnay bursting relatively early, and cabernet sauvignon bursting relatively late.

Murray Valley Winegrowers executive officer Mike Stone said while there had been “pockets of early bud burst”, most of the region was on par with previous seasons.

South Australian viticulturist Richard Hamilton said bud burst had returned to normal timing in the Adelaide Hills after several years of “very early” burst.

“In the past few years it’s been very dry and also warm which brought on things a lot earlier — the 2013-14 vintage was particularly early,” he said.

“While it’s been dry this year, we’ve had some very low soil temperatures that have meant things are largely back to normal.”