This week: 23rd. Feb.

Weather Report Week Ending 23/2/07
Maximum Temperature for the week 39.6C (103F) on Sat.
Minimum Temperature for the week 9.6C (49F) on Thurs.
Rainfall for the Week 0.0mm (0 points) 0 days of rain.
Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.

Another very hot period for us this week - in fact we have just had 12 consecutive days of above 32C conditions. Our grapepicking season is running at least 3 weeks ahead of where we would normally expect it to be. Still no rain - just what we want, for now.

This week in the vineyard:
Our grapepicking continues - we have now started on our red varieties. This week we have been picking Shiraz, Merlot and Cabernet. We are still experiencing our worst crop in living memory, most vineyards are reporting at least a 50% reduction in yield. However there is always a silver lining, some of our winemakers are expecting some exceptional wines to be produced from this vintage. This will also help to reduce Australia's stocks of wine, which should help the industry to recover from the current slump sooner rather than later. The picture this week shows us machine harvesting some Shiraz for Peter Lehmann wines.