Vote for the Barossa Valley

Monopoly in Australia are going to produce an new Aussie version of Monopoly. They are asking for people to vote for their favorite Aussie places. The Barossa Valley is one of the South Australian places you can vote for. Please go to http://www.monopoly.com.au/ and click on the map of S.A. and vote for the Barossa!

This week: 5th. Jan.

Weather Report Week Ending 5/1/07
Maximum Temperature for the week 35.7C (96F) on Thurs.
Minimum Temperature for the week 12.3C (54F) on Sun.
Rainfall for the Week 1.4mm (4 points) 1 day of rain.
Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.

Well a rather hot week this week. We recorded above 30C every day this week, and one very warm night (minimum 25.2C on Fri.). This will really hustle the vines towards ripening. This week's photo is of some 30 year old Shiraz showing typical hen and chicken and the beginnings of verasion.

This week in the vineyard:

We have been preparing equipment for grape picking - washing and painting trailers and bins etc. First grape samples will be sent to our wineries on Tues. I have also been doing paperwork in preperation for picking, getting spray diaries organized and load sheets printed (to allow us to track every load of grapes from the vineyard to the winery.

Summary of 2006 weather

January:
Temperatures, Max. 42.6C (109F) Min. 10.2C (50F)
Rainfall 17.2mm (50 points) 5 rain days
297 hours of sunshine recorded
297.2 mm of evaporation recorded
Feburary:
Temperatures, Max. 36.46C (97F) Min. 9.52C (49F)
Rainfall 32.8mm (93 points) 4 rain days
282.4 hours of sunshine recorded
209.8 mm of evaporation recorded
March:
Temperatures, Max. 36.7C (98F) Min. 6.0C (43F)
Rainfall 65.4mm (186 points) 4 rain days
290 hours of sunshine recorded
217.0 mm of evaporation recorded
April:
Temperatures, Max. 23.4C (74F) Min. 1.5C (35F)
Rainfall 40.2mm (115 points) 12 rain days
179.3 hours of sunshine recorded
82.0 mm of evaporation recorded
May:
Temperatures, Max. 18.2C (65F) Min. -2.1C (28F)
Rainfall 47.2mm (135 points) 11 rain days
144.8 hours of sunshine recorded
49.6 mm of evaporation recorded
June:
Temperatures, Max. 17.3C (63F) Min. -4.5C (24F)
Rainfall 28.8mm (82 points) 15 rain days
169.9 hours of sunshine recorded
39.2 mm of evaporation recorded
July:
Temperatures, Max. 20.8C (69F) Min. -0.6C (31F)
Rainfall 39.4mm (112 points) 17 rain days
155.8 hours of sunshine recorded
45.4 mm of evaporation recorded
August:
Temperatures, Max. 23.7C (75F) Min. -1.4C (29F)
Rainfall 11mm (31 points) 12 rain days (record low rainfall for August)
235.8 hours of sunshine recorded
77.0 mm of evaporation recorded
September:
Temperatures, Max. 29.3C (85F) Min. 2.4C (36F)
Rainfall 20.0mm (57 points) 6 rain days (near record low rainfall for September)
242.4 hours of sunshine recorded
143.2 mm of evaporation recorded
October:
Temperatures, Max. 36.8C (98F) Min. 0.0C (32F) (record max. for October)
Rainfall 0.0mm (0 points) 0 rain days (record low rainfall for October)
315.5 hours of sunshine recorded
219.8 mm of evaporation recorded (average is 145.7mm)
November:
Temperatures, Max. 37.7C (100F) Min. 3.0C (37F)
Rainfall 25.2mm (72 points) 8 rain days
297.1 hours of sunshine recorded
250 mm of evaporation recorded
December:
Temperatures, Max. 41.2C (106F) Min. 4.1C (40F)
Rainfall 19.6mm (56 points) 5 rain days
303.6 hours of sunshine recorded
282.2 mm of evaporation recorded

2006 in Summary:
Average max. temperture for Nuriootpa is 21.2C (70F)
Average for 2006 was 21.2C (70F)
Average min. temperature for Nuriootpa is 9.0C (48F)
Average for 2006 was 8.2C (47F)

Average rainfall for Nuriootpa is 491.1mm (1400 points)
Total rainfall for 2006 was 326mm (930 points)
All weather data thanks to BOM and Nurootpa viticulture research centre

This week: 29th. Dec.

Weather Report Week Ending 29/12/06
Maximum Temperature for the week 28C (82F) on Fri.
Minimum Temperature for the week 4.6C (40F) on Tue.
Rainfall for the Week 1.6mm (4 points) 2 days of rain.
Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.

A rather cool week. Should have been a good week for flavour development. Just a small amount of rain with 2 nights of very spectacular thunderstorms (picture above). I found the first signs of verasion this week - the picture is of some Pinot Noir just starting to change colour.

This week in the vineyard:

I have now completed our last (I hope) spray for the season. We will probably begin to sample some of our early varieties for maturity in this coming week. Harvest will be early this year - the earliest we have ever picked here is 31st Jan. we have the potential to beat that this year!

This week: 22nd. Dec.

Weather Report Week Ending 22/12/06
Maximum Temperature for the week 35.1C (95F) on Wed.
Minimum Temperature for the week 9.2C (49F) on Sat.
Rainfall for the Week 14.4mm (41 points) 1 day of rain.
Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.

Well some more rain for us this week. All of the rain fell over an 18 hour period on Thurs. night/ Fri. morning. Any rain we get from now on will be a problem for us as we are about to enter withholding periods on most of the chemicals we use to protect our vineyard from disease (mainly Downy and Powdery mildew). I was planning to put a protectant spray (Sulphur and either Copper or Mancozeb) out between Christmas and New year, however due to the rain we had last week I will now have to add an eradicant chemical (probably Metalaxyl), to eliminate any disease we may have picked up.

This week in the vineyard:
The sprayer is now ready to go on Boxing day (providing the weather is suitable). We spent some of last week getting ready for the rain, cleaning out gutters and fixing up down pipes etc. to catch all the water we could, our tanks are beginning to get fairly low! Our spray shed has large tanks (approx. 75,000 Litres), we use nearly all rain water to do our spraying - I think I will just have enough water for this next spray and then they will be empty. If we need to do another spray I will probably need to use mains water.

This week: 15th. Dec.

Weather Report Week Ending 15/12/06
Maximum Temperature for the week 41.2C (106F) on Sat.
Minimum Temperature for the week 7.0C (44F) on Tue.
Rainfall for the Week 2.2mm (7 points) 2 days of rain.
Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.

Saturday was a real scorcher here in the Barossa. Only 0.6 of a degree below our hottest recorded December day (41.8C 30th Dec 2005). There are some signs of sunburn showing up - but not as bad as I was expecting. The automatic weather station at Nuriootpa went down for a couple of days this week, but I think the figures above are accurate.

This week in the vineyard:
This week I finally finished spraying weeds. Next week I will be getting the sprayer ready for our final spray this season - only our 4th spray, nearly half of what we normally put out. There just hasn't been the conditions for disease this year. Still in these difficult times, every dollar we can save helps us stay in business that little bit longer. My staff have all knocked off for the Christmas holidays so there will not be a lot happening until the New Year in our vineyard.

BAROSSA WINE INDUSTRY MANAGEMENT PLAN RELEASED FOR PUBLIC COMMENT

After a collaborative effort by a special Steering Committee of Barossa growers and winemakers covering most of this year, the final draft of the Barossa Wine Industry Management Plan has been released for industry consultation. The Plan aims to redress the current problems of oversupply of grapes and wine and low profitability within the wine industry and secure the future of our industry for future generations.

Speaking following the release, Steering Committee secretary Bob Taplin said that the Plan, if implemented, will affect every single winegrape grower within the Barossa region and every purchaser of Barossa grapes. “Every grower and winemaker should therefore make an effort to study the draft Plan and try to see how the Plan can help our industry develop,” Mr. Taplin said. “The ground work has been done but wider involvement from industry is required before decisions need to be made.”

Interested growers and winemakers can access the Plan via the website for the Barossa & Light Regional Development Board at http://www.bld.org.au/ (under the heading “Wine Industry”). They can also contact members of the Steering Committee for details, including details of a number of special information meetings that will held in the second week of January.

Steering Committee members include (in alphabetical order) Chris Canute, Paul Clancy, Jaysen Collins, John Curnow, Rob Gibson, John Hahn, Adrian Hoffmann, Keith Hoffmann, Geoff Knights, James Lindner, Anne Moroney, Matthew Munzberg, Leo Pech, James Rosenzweig, Ed Schild, Bob Taplin and Scott Tolhurst.

A public meeting, when growers and winemakers will be invited to decide on whether to adopt the Plan or not, has been tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, January 30.