This week: 23rd. November

Weather Report Week Ending 23/11/07

Maximum Temperature for the week 38.4C (101F) on Mon. 5 readings above our monthly average of 24.6C.

Minimum Temperature for the week 8.4C (47F) on Thur. 5 readings above our monthly average of 10.7C.

Rainfall for the Week 8.2mm (24 points) 1 day of rain.

Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.

Another quite warm week again this week. We had one wet day (Wed.) with just over 8mm of rain measured. The vines dried off very quickly after the rain, so I am not expecting any problems with mildew as a result. This rain has only been enough to freshen the vines up a bit. The good news is we wont have to irrigate for a while.

This week in the vineyard:

We have had some petioles analyzed in the last few weeks, this week we got the results back. We have no major issues with nutrition showing up.

Because of the rain this last week, I have now started putting our next fungicide spray on the vines. I am hoping that we will only need to put out one more spray this season, after this one. I am sorry I have not got a photo this week, but I have been very busy spraying any chance I can get.

This week: 16h. November

Weather Report Week Ending 16/11/07

Maximum Temperature for the week 34.8C (95F) on Fri. All 7 readings above our monthly average of 24.6C.

Minimum Temperature for the week 11.0C (52F) on Sat. All 7 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.

A very warm week this week. All readings, both max. and min. have been above our monthly average. We have not recorded any rainfall at all this week.

This week in the vineyard:

We have now just about finished putting out the nitrogen fertigation, that we started last week. The vines have noticeably grown this last week, the warm weather with the rain we have had in the last 2 weeks, have really stimulated them. Flowering is finished in most varieties, fruit set so far looks to be quite reasonable. This week our Murray river water allocation has been lifted from 16% to 22%. This increase will still not be enough for us. We will need to top up our needs with poor quality bore water, however we will not need to use as much now, this is very good news for our soil. The more bore water we have to use the more chance we have of causing damage to our soil and ultimately our vines. This weeks photo is a view through some of our Chardonnay, showing how well developed our canopy's are now.

This week: 9th. November

Weather Report Week Ending 9/11/07
Maximum Temperature for the week 27.0C (80F) on Fri. 2 readings above our monthly average of 24.6C.

Minimum Temperature for the week 4.6C (40F) on Sun. 3 readings above our monthly average of 10.7C.
Rainfall for the Week 13.4mm (38 points) 2 days of rain.

Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.

One wet day this week (Sat.). Since Sunday we have had a large high pressure system parked in the great Australian bight. This has caused fine and dry conditions for us most of the week.

This week in the vineyard:

We are still breaking out water shoots (summer pruning). I have been cleaning up some of the weeds that were missed last time we went through the vineyard. I am also mowing again with the same pass to stop as much moisture being lost as possible, while leaving a mulch covering. We have also started putting out a Nitrogen fertigation on some of our white varieties, as we are a little concerned about the amount of canopy that some of the vines have. We would like to try and stimulate some more growth to protect our fruit from sunburn once we start getting into some hotter weather. This week's photo is of a bunch of Sauvinion Blanc. in full flower. Flowering will be over here in the Barossa by next week's posting. This week we will be looking for fine and calm weather to maximise the conversion from flowers in fruit.

This week: 2nd. November

Weather Report Week Ending 2/11/07

Maximum Temperature for the week 28.7C (83F) on Sat. 3 readings above our monthly average of 24.6C.

Minimum Temperature for the week 7.2C (45F) on Tue. 5 readings above our monthly average of 10.7C.

Rainfall for the Week 12.4mm (35 points) 4 days of rain.

Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.

A slightly damp week. We have had several days of reasonable rainfall - not enough to influence our subsoil, but enough to replenish our evaporation losses. There has been a large low pressure system building in the great Australian Bite for most of this week, this has meant cooler and windy conditions for us.

This week in the vineyard:

We are still Summer pruning.

I have spent most of this week putting out our second fungicide spray for the season. I have all of our vineyard now protected against Downy and Powdery mildews. I am expecting some more rain for us this coming week.

We have seen the first signs of flowering in our vineyard. The Chardonnay is well under way, however other varieties are still to start. By next week I would expect most of our varieties will be flowering or finished. The photo this week shows some of our Chardonnay already near the end of flowering.