Louis Latour Agencies

2019 Vintage Update from Wakefield

19 February 2019

We’ve heard from Cherry Stowman in Clare Valley, who has given us an update on the start of the 2019 harvest:

‘… the conditions over the growing season can be characterised as pretty dry in terms of rainfall and recently, VERY hot!  Our year to date rainfall is around 150mm down from the long term averages.

We recorded our highest January temperature of 45.5 degrees Celsius in some years on the 25th January.  And then got a few drops of rain (only 1.8ml) on the 27th – it was quite strange to see the storm clouds gather and the rain fall after such a hot few days but welcome relief nonetheless!

These hot and dry conditions are likely to have some impact on yield, and we are hopeful that we won’t have any further extended periods of high heat during vintage.

In any case, the season officially kicked off this week with harvesting of the Pinot Noir for our sparkling base.

Next week we’re hoping to start harvesting some Pinot Gris and the early ripening Chardonnay parcels but of course, it’s all very dependent on the weather.  The very hot weather experienced in the region in recent weeks has resulted in the vines “shutting down” their ripening process and so this can impact upon the timing of harvest.  The hot weather has definitely stressed some of the vines with loss of leaf condition on the canopy and basal leaf drop off evident in some blocks. Our close management of the estate and access to water via irrigation though means that we can limit the stress to the vines during these challenging weather conditions.

 

Just before Christmas Wakefield received some new stainless steel tanks:

“At 288,000 litres in capacity, the tanks were the largest that you can safely transport by road - anything bigger has to be built on site.  As it was, there was a fair bit of drama around their delivery with a full police escort causing a scene down the main street in Clare.  At present the first of the three is waiting to the other two to arrive and then all three will be positioned onto their big concrete plinths with the help of a very large crane.  These tanks will ensure that we have adequate storage capacity going forward as we grow into some new products and new markets.  It’s an exciting time for all of us as we enter the year of our 50th celebrations and turn towards the future and the next 50 years!”