This week: 28th. December

Weather Report Week Ending 28/12/07
Weather data for this week is incomplete.
Maximum Temperature for the week 37.0C (98F) on Fri. 3? readings above our monthly average of 27.1C.
Minimum Temperature for the week 9.6C (49F) on Tue. 3? readings above our monthly average of 12.3C.
Rainfall for the Week 28.4mm (81 points) 3 day of rain. (Rainfall figures for Tanunda).
Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.



A very nice amount of rain early in the week for us, however it has been followed by gradually warming and very dry days. In fact the forecast for next week is for an extended heat wave. The rain of last week will help to cushion the impact of this heat on the vines, however we are stepping up our irrigation schedule to make sure each block is getting some water every week.

This week in the vineyard:
We are finishing off the last of the spraying this week. All of our early whites have now been sprayed, with the rest to be sprayed as early as we can in the new year. With the forecast hot weather for the next week, I think I may need to do some night spraying. I am also trying to get some more weed spraying done. I have not been getting much done this week due to all the public holidays and now I will not get much done because of the weather - very frustrating!


I pray everyone has a very happy and above all safe New year, I look forward to posting again in 2008.

This week: 21st. December

Weather Report Week Ending 21/12/07

Weather data for this week is incomplete.

Maximum Temperature for the week 35.8C (96F) on Wed. 3? readings above our monthly average of 27.1C.

Minimum Temperature for the week 10.9C (51F) on Mon. 3? readings above our monthly average of 12.3C.

Rainfall for the Week 0.2mm (1 point) 1 day of rain.

Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.

A warm and fairly humid week for us this week. The weather station at Nuriootpa has been down for a couple of days this week, so I have had to make a best guess at some of this weeks figures.

This week in the vineyard:

I have been spraying our early whites this week for the last time this season. We have been using Copper and Sulfur this time, which has a withholding period of 30 days here in Australia. I am expecting an early start to vintage this year, however not as early as the record start time of last year. We will be able to start picking anytime from the 20th of Jan. I am planning to spray the rest of our varieties the first week in Jan. We have also been skirting some of the longer canes that are hanging down, to improve the airflow through the vines and make it easier to machine harvest.

I would like to wish everyone a very happy Christmas. Please stay safe in whatever you do, particularly when driving this festive season (there was a fatal car accident this week with both of the cars finishing up in one of our vineyards, and a local woman I have known for around 30 years killed).

This week: 14th. December

Weather Report Week Ending 14/12/07
Maximum Temperature for the week 36.0C (97F) on Fri. 4 readings above our monthly average of 27.1C.

Minimum Temperature for the week 5.5C (42F) on Mon. 2 readings above our monthly average of 12.3C.

Rainfall for the Week 0.0mm (0 points) 0 days of rain.

Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.

Yet another very nice summer week. A couple of quite warm days at the end of the week. Still no rain recorded.

This week in the vineyard:

This week I have been doing some more mowing, as we will need to start spraying some of the summer weeds that are coming up all over the place. We are having particular challenges with a weed called caltrop, an amazing weed that I think will eventually take over the world (if we can't find some easy way to control it). It grows really fast after just a small amount of summer rainfall, to get it germinating. It sets seeds within a couple of weeks of germination and each mature plant can get 100's if not 1000's of seeds on it. So I am going to have to spray weeds again shortly to control the plants that are out there now, but if we get more rain in the next few weeks there will be another flush of weeds germinate.

The photo this week shows some of our Shiraz, we are expecting to see the first signs of verasion shortly. As you can see there is no sign yet of any colour change yet. Last year we started picking on the 23rd of Jan. this was the earliest start to vintage ever (by nearly a week), I am expecting this coming vintage to be quite early too, but hopefully not as early as last year.

This week: 7th. December

Weather Report Week Ending 7/12/07

Maximum Temperature for the week 35.4C (95F) on Thurs. 4 readings above our monthly average of 27.1C.
Minimum Temperature for the week 10.1C (50F) on Thurs. 4 readings above our monthly average of 12.3C.
Rainfall for the Week 0.0mm (0 points) 0 days of rain.
Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.


A fairly typical summer week for us this week. A couple of warm to hot days. Most of the rest of the week has been quite nice. There have been some quite strong winds with thunderstorms in other parts of SA, that have caused a number of bushfires. Some of these fires are still burning out of control, but nowhere near the Barossa.

This week in the vineyard:

We have now finished what I hope will be our second last fungicide spray for the season. We can now turn our attention to weeds (particularly Caltrop) that are coming up in the vineyard.

I have not been getting a lot done in the vineyard (again) this week. All of our wineries are having their Christmas shows at the moment. I also spent one day this week on a on a bus trip organized by the Barossa Valley Tech. group, to the riverland. We looked at a private vineyard at Blanchetown, and several corporate vineyards near Waikerie. We also looked at a vineyard near Loxton that has been severely deprived of water because of the drought.

The first photo (a merger of 7 photos) shows some smoke haze from the bushfires in SA, over the Barossa (not enough to affect grape quality). The second photo shows Dr. Mike McCarthy on the riverland bus trip, inspecting some vines that have not been given any irrigation in the last 2 years.

This week: 30th. November

Weather Report Week Ending 30/11/07

Maximum Temperature for the week 33.4C (92F) on Thurs. All 7 readings above our monthly average of 24.6C.

Minimum Temperature for the week 7.5C (45F) on Sat. 5 readings above our monthly average of 10.7C.

Rainfall for the Week 0.0mm (0 points) 0 days of rain.

Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.

Another very warm week for us this week. However we have so far not had any real scorcher days that could damage our grapes. We have had near record maximum average temperatures this November. We finished the month with our average nearly 3C above our normal average.

This week in the vineyard:

I have continued to put on our next fungicide spray. I am not getting a lot done, due to the warm weather, I can only spray in the morning and a number of Christmas functions I have attended this week.

We have started tucking canes up, in our blocks that have catch wires. We do this to provide some shading of the fruit but also (conversely) to open the canopy's up to promote more even ripening.

The photo tonight shows a bunch of Shiraz, they are at about pea size berries. As you can see fruit set has been quite uniform and as a result we should look forward to a good solid average season, if we can finish the fruit off. Heat and lack of water, I believe, will now be the limiting factors in how well our season finishes up.