Louis Latour Agencies

2018 Vintage Update from Wakefield

18 January 2018

We've had our first update of the year from Wakefield including the progress of vintage 2018 from Cherry Stowman, Brand Ambassador. 

"At this stage, of course, no grapes have been harvested for us so it’s all about the weather, vine health and the progress of veraison. The season leading up to vintage 2018 has been quite settled, a slightly cooler and drier season to date which is Clare Valley perfection at its best. The vines are extremely happy (yes, I asked them!) with a lot of healthy green canopy - perfectly balanced and in a healthy state to ripen the fruit before harvest. The first stages of veraison are beginning to occur now in the white varieties, which means we’re around 4 weeks away from harvest. 

We’ve been relatively blessed with water this season.  Whilst we’re tracking under average seasonal rainfall as a percentage, what has fallen was been little and often which has kept the soil moisture levels at optimum.  Our dams were full to start with and at this stage we’ve got enough stored water to see us through the season. Yield predictions are in line with our expectations and we’re definitely on track to process what the demand team have set as a target for this vintage. 

There has been little to no disease pressure due to the great conditions and also in no small part to the effort the vineyard team have put in.  The final rounds of crop protection management is occurring now and that is really the calm before the storm because next, the team will be polishing up harvesters and grape transport bins."

We look forward to hearing more as the weeks progress...