The Auswine Forum

2013 Vintage: A Ferrari-free year
by PHILIP WHITE
drinkster.com
01 March 2013

http://drinkster.blogspot.com/2013/03/2 ... -year.html

“One of my best growers is so comfortable he’s gone on holidays, vineyard cruising,” said McLaren Vale winemaker Tim Geddes on Twitter. “Old vines are low Baumé, high acid.”

2013 is a tricky year to pick. Literally. The summer has just been officially announced to be the hottest in Australia since records began, so it’s miraculous that so many good wines appear to be in the tanks and barrels, and there's still some great fruit left to pick.

The build-up to vintage , as I wrote here a fortnight back, was very promising heat-wise in my neck of the woods: spikes in the maximum were not as dramatic and scary as forecast. The subsoil moisture, however, was another thing: the spring was dry, and drier as you progressed from the tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula through McLaren Vale and the Barossa, north to Clare and into the Southern Finders appellation, and then east into the vast Murray Darling, where growers are confronted by a new, lower-irrigation regime whatever the weather does.

Whitey's much more critical than Tony Love's fluff piece from just over a week ago... (and I suspect more realistic)

Grape expectations for a quality vintage
Tony Love For Adelaidenow
February 22, 2013

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sout ... 6583823486

THE 2013 South Australian vintage is set to produce a top-quality range of wines thanks to warm, dry weather and smaller, more intensely-flavoured grapes.

The dry spring and summer has caused many varieties to ripen faster than usual, Wine Grape Growers Australia boss Lawrie Stanford says.

Steady, dry and warm conditions have meant reds are reaching required sugar levels rapidly and the harvest is being compressed into a shorter period," Mr Stanford said



Cheers,
Ian

was thinking how 2013 vintage was going at the moment yesterday in fact.

For whatever its worth TWE was extremely bullish on the vintage at their February results ... They think it will be another good year in the same vein as 2012..

Some more SA vintage observations (as of last Monday, March 4th) by James Hook over at the DJ's Growers site:

http://djsgrowers.blogspot.com.au/2013/ ... l?spref=tw

Really muggy in Adelaide at the moment, and just had a good downpour that seemed to blow in from the North.

Cheers,
Ian

Seriously, could be a vintage to buy NZ wines!

Someone who should know what's happening said Barossa finished vintage (except for fortifieds) by the end of February. Can anyone confirm this?

I know Grenache was being picked in Greenock and Ebenezer yesterday.

For what it's worth I spoke to one of the pickers from Wendouree and they seemed very buoyed
and excited about what was coming off the vine.
They were going like the clappers to try and get the grapes picked before any rain/humid weather rolled in.

An update on the Vintage in the Yarra Valley from Yarra Yering:

"2013 has bestowed a very dry summer upon us here in the Yarra Valley so the recent rains were welcomed with open arms, and the odd whooping and throwing of hats in the air!

Colour will not be a problem in Shiraz for Vintage 2013
The vines coped well with the dry due to their 40+ years of age and are now feeling refreshed and have set themselves up to come home with a wet sail.

All the Chardonnay and Viognier are safe and sound in barrel, the Pinot Noir is all harvested and ticking out their last grams of sugar before heading down to barrel and we’ve even picked a small amount of Blenheim Shiraz.
Malbec is coming into the winery as I write and indications are that it’s produced its usual miserly amount, so if you enjoyed the 2010 Malbec be warned, there are 5 cases left and then that’s it for possibly another 25 years!

The full onslaught of Vintage 2013 should commence within the next week, then organized chaos will reign, as already evidenced by the fact that Paul is sporting a beard!"

On the other hand..

Restraint reemerges from Australian wines
The Washington Post
Dave McIntyre, Published: March 6

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle ... story.html

The 2011, 2012 and now 2013 harvests have seen more rain than usual, making the super-ripe style of wine harder to achieve.

I'd like to know where all that rain has been falling..

I'd like to know where all that rain has been falling..

Perhaps Dave was referring to the States?

I was in Mornington, Barossa/Eden and out in Western Australia in March and everyone remarked on how dry things had been (6 months without rain in some cases).

Dave's usually reasonably good, so perhaps he's just based his reporting on other regions?