13th. Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference

I am currently at the Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference. It has (so far) been a very interesting experience. There are a number of problems that are going face the Australian wine industry in the future. The current problem is of course the ongoing drought and the potential for increased salinity as we come out of it. We will also have problems once the drought does finally end, of a continuation of over supply. One of the big issues I think is going to face our industry is the notion of ‘food miles’. Because we are located a long way from our major markets, I believe the Aussie industry will need to demonstrate that we are doing everything possible to reduce our carbon emissions. This may be a fairly difficult sell to our consumers, considering the mixed messages they will be getting from some of our competitors.
I believe the future of the Aussie wine industry lies in us being able to successfully sell wine produced by small producers that is unique and reflects the characteristics of the areas in which it has been grown. While the large wine companies produce large volumes of ‘product of SE Australia’ type wines, we will always be locked into the lower price points of the large supermarkets. Australia can and does produce some of the best wines in the world – we need to build on this, but not by trying to reproduce wines that are the same year after year or region to region. We should be promoting our individuality, possibly right down to wines from individual vineyards. Then as producers we should be able to be paid the true value of our grapes. Another problem we as producers have (and it affects our consumers too) is the length of our supply chains. I see a huge potential for the Internet to enable producers like us to interact directly with our consumers, this has the potential to work very well on the small scales I mentioned above. It would be a win-win for both produces and consumers, producers would be able to set their own prices, and I suspect, consumers will find they are paying less for their wine. There would be some very unhappy middle men out there though, but then they can keep on fighting each other for the large customers who are only interested in their bottom line and not on the wine.
We have also spent a large amount of time discussing the future impact climate change will have on the world wine industry. This is looking very worrying, but I will write some more about this in the next few days.

This week: 27th. July

Weather Report Week Ending 27/7/07

Maximum Temperature for the week 20.4C (69F) on Wed. 6 readings above our monthly average of 13.5C.

Minimum Temperature for the week -0.6C (31F) on Sun. 4 readings above our monthly average of 4.3C.

Rainfall for the Week 0mm (0 points) 0 days of rain.

Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.

A much warmer and drier week for us this week. No rain at all recorded this week, we still need more to give us the normal growing season we are all hoping for. There is some hope in the forecast for this coming week - hopefully I will have some better news to report next week.

This week in the vineyard:

We have started taking the growguards off the block of Sauv. Blanc we had top grafted last year. This block has grown really well since I last reported on it in December 2006. The idea we had, to protect the graft union has worked really well. The problem we have had, is that the vines have grown so vigorously, and because we were not able to get zip-up tubes we are now having difficulty getting the growgards off the wire. We have had to cut the stitching on them. This problem would be solved by using zip-up tubes. The picture shows the block before we started taking the guards off. We will finish pruning this block sometime in the next week. I will be spending this coming week at the Wine industry technical conference in Adelaide.

This week: 20th. July

Weather Report Week Ending 20/7/07

Maximum Temperature for the week 13.4C (56F) on Mon. all 7 readings below our monthly average of 13.5C.

Minimum Temperature for the week -1.1C (30F) on Wed. 1 reading above our monthly average of 4.3C.

Rainfall for the Week 8.4mm (24 points) 2 days of rain.

Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.

A fairly normal week for us this week. We have had another large blocking High pressure system form in the Great Australian Bight, that is causing any cold fronts coming up from the south west to slide away to the south of us. So we are back to the fine cool and clear days with frosty nights, that we were getting all of last month.

This week in the vineyard:
Pruning is now all but over. Our contract pruning gang has now finished work. We only have two blocks of young vines still to prune - they will be done by our own staff. This week we finished our last blocks of Riesling, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. I am still on holiday, so have not been doing much in our vineyard, I have instead taken to staying up late watching the Tour de France on telly. Most stages only finish at about 1:30am local time, but my kids still wake me at 6:30 most mornings, so I am not feeling all that rested. The photo above shows our contractors finishing off our last block of vines to be pruned by them, this year.

This week: 13th. July

Weather Report Week Ending 13/7/07

Maximum Temperature for the week 13.5C (56F) on Mon. 1 reading above our monthly average of 13.5C.
Minimum Temperature for the week 0.0C (32F) on Fri. 3 readings above our monthly average of 4.3C.
Rainfall for the Week 9.8mm (28 points) 6 days of rain.
Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.


A cold and moderately windy period for us this week. Moisture was recorded on all but one day by the weather station at Nuriootpa, however there were only 2 days with more than 1mm. The winter weather patterns have continued although are beginning to reduce a little in intensity. Hopefully we have not finished with winter yet.



This week in the vineyard:

Pruning is coming to an end - this week we have finished blocks of Shiraz, Merlot and Sauvinion Blanc. Our contract pruning gang will be finishing up this week, we will only have a couple of young blocks for our staff to finish off and then we will be into Spring work (preparing to plant, re-trellising etc.). I think the season opening could be late this year - we watch for the first signs of almond blossoms around this time of the year. So far there is little sign of movement from the almond trees. This could be a result of the very cold conditions we had last month. I am enjoying a couple of weeks holiday at the moment, while the kids are home from school. We are having a very unusual holiday - at home. We normally have to go away, working at home makes it very difficult to get a holiday at home, there seems to always be something that needs attention. We have been taking some day trips to get away. We have so far been to Mannum on the River Murray, followed by a trip to Cleland wildlife park and Waterfall Gully in the Adelaide hills.

This week: 6th. July

Weather Report Week Ending 6/7/07

Maximum Temperature for the week 18.8C (66F) on Tue. 5 readings above our monthly average.
Minimum Temperature for the week 3.0C (37F) on Mon. 5 readings above our monthly average.
Rainfall for the Week 26.8mm (77 points) 7 days of rain.
Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.

As I said last week a much more typical weather system for this time of the year has been dictating our weather. We have had very useful falls of rain this week, we have just about had our average for July. We have also been seeing warmer nights as a result of the winter patterns we are getting - no frosts recorded this week.

This week in the vineyard:
Pruning continues - this week we have finished blocks of Chardonnay, Merlot and Grenche. Not a lot else happening in our vineyard this week on account of the rain - most of the week has been spent on paperwork and maintenance. I will be going to the 13th wine industry technical conference in 3 weeks time, being held in Adelaide. This is one of the major gatherings of the Australian wine industry, it is held every 3 years. I am looking forward to it, as it is a chance for a simple grape grower like myself, to broaden my horizons and learn more about the research that is being conducted in our industry. Being held in conjunction with the conference is the winetech trade display, I will see if I can get some photos and post them on this site. The conference starts on 29th July and is followed by the 4th Australian wine industry environment conference on the 2nd August. I will have reports from both of them. More details can be found at the ASVO web site - link at right.

This week: 29th. June

Weather Report Week Ending 29/6/07

Maximum Temperature for the week 13.9C (56F) on Mon & Wed. All 7 readings below our monthly average.

Minimum Temperature for the week -1.9C (28F) on Sat. 3 readings above our monthly average.

Rainfall for the Week 4.4mm (12 points) 4 days of rain.

Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.

Another very cold week, 2 frosts and all Maximum temperatures below our average of 14.2C. We are still on track to set a new record for below average maximum for June. The weather patterns have changed considerably in the last week. We are now seeing more typical winter weather patterns forming up - not much rain yet, however it is looking a lot more promising than we have seen for probably a month.

This week in the vineyard:

Pruning continues - this week we have finished blocks of Shiraz, Semillon, Chardonnay and Cabernet. A week of meetings for me this week. The highlight for me has been the launch of this years Barossa Young Viticulturist of the year. This year we have changed the focus a little bit, with the winner being required to undertake a leadership training course and then spend 12 months serving on one of the local grape growing committees. The winner will get up to A$10,000 to spend on travel or a project that will have benefits for the whole Barossa grape growing community. For more info. contact me and I can email some more details, or see the Barossa Viticulture Tech. Group website (link to the right). Today's photo is of the full moon rising over some of our vineyards and the very green Barossa ranges.