Australia’s winemakers were handed something of a ‘get out of jail’ card for the 2008 vintage, but whether or not they were fully able to take advantage of this opportunity depended very much on where they were. The season began with truly dire but genuinely rational fears over a record low yield, but instead Australia pulled an astonishingly large crop out of its viticultural riversides, the scale of which defied all logic and sensibility.Absolutely nobody predicted that the national crop would come in at 1.83 million tonnes, a massive load that nobody wants. Well above the recent five-year average of 1.71 million tonnes, it’s about 450,000 tonnes more than Australia really needed. Faced with a final, desperate opportunity to buy water to flesh out a crop and finally get some half-decent income, growers flooded the speculative market for fruit, only to cop an absolute caning when in came to selling their grapes. Wineries didn’t help either, in many cases going back on early indications that they wanted more volume. Grape prices hardly covered the watering costs, leaving many growers, in South Australia’s Riverlands especially, wondering if they will actually be able to afford to produce a crop in 2009.The 2008 crop was 31% bigger than 2007’s. It produced 45% more red grapes, which accounted for 53% of the total intake, while the white crop was up by 18%. Chardonnay, the country’s largest-producing grape variety, accounted for a massive 24% of the total harvest, with a scary 444,000 tonnes. Towards the end of vintage uncontracted chardonnay was trading for as little $300 per tonne, and even below.The God of Wine obviously has an Old Testament sense of humour, so while it might be big, the crop was however far from uniformly beautiful. The season’s early start led to harvest around a month before what has traditionally been accepted as normal, leaving grapes to complete their ripening in the dangerously hot months of January or February, depending on where they were grown.Then brutal temperatures Ð which included a record heatwave for Adelaide from March 2-18 Ð accelerated ripening to such an extent that the vintage was condensed into around half its usual time. Fruit all ripened and/or overcooked at once, so wineries were choked with congestion, causing grapes to be left on vines for much longer than desirable.Many red wines were harvested well above their usual sugar ripeness, but also without their typical levels of ripe flavour. There are reports of some Barossa shiraz being picked at more than 22 degrees baumÌ©, not Brix! The Wine Grape Growers Association’s Mark McKenzie estimates up to 100,000 tonnes of red grapes were left on the vine in 2008.New South WalesIt was a mixed bag for New South Wales’ steadily increasing number of officially identified wine regions. The Hunter experienced just the sort of season its growers fear and its detractors crow about Ð rain and plenty of it. Mind you, it has enjoyed a great run of recent years. Mudgee also had a very wet and difficult time of it.Canberra, however, enjoyed enough intermittent rain to deliver some large, healthy crops of pleasing quality. Riesling and shiraz look particularly encouraging. Tumbarumba produced some good fruit, chardonnay especially, while the Riverina’s unexpectedly large crop (a record, in fact!) was better suited to earlier-ripening white varieties and shiraz. Growers in the recently proclaimed New England wine region Ð which shares the same name with an established wine region in the United States and whose naming as such must go down as one of the wine industry’s dumber moments Ð declare they had a good season as well. So evident in some of our larger cities, the modern concept of the global village must seem a long, long way away if you live in northern New South Wales.South AustraliaWhere you were and what you were ripening over a seventeen-day heatwave pretty well determined whether you emerged from the 2008 South Australian vintage with a smile or a grimace. Frankly though, given the extremely condensed nature of the vintage which took seven weeks in the Barossa instead of the usual twelve, I’d hazard a guess that most South Australian winemakers emerged from it with dark circles under their eyes. The heatwave’s impact accelerated ripening and quickly raised the baumÌ© levels of later-ripening varieties, reducing the size of crops Ð as well as quality Ð in some areas. Like the two before it, the 2008 harvest was about a month earlier than normal Ð or perhaps about spot-on for the new ‘normal’ Ð so the heatwave between March 2 to 18 was actually about equivalent to one a month later the way things used to be. However, the impact of the heat on quality was significantly reduced by the fact that the 2008 harvest began as a very early season overall. The industry reckons that only 15% to 20% of the total crop was still on the vine at the time. Hmmm!This was certainly good news for growers of shiraz in McLaren Vale and Clare, while Coonawarra and Wrattonbully cabernet might also produce something special in the vineyards harvested before the shrivel began. Being more southerly and hence rather cooler, the southeast fared rather better with the later-ripening varieties, cabernet included. It also received some decent soakings of rain in October. Padthaway produced some handy chardonnay, and is also buoyed by the discovery that the saline subterranean water that has dogged its fruit over recent vintages is actually moving away from its viticultural zone.Barossa makers like Peter Lehmann had an unprecedented start to vintage on 30th January. The Barossa experienced another shorter burst of heat in early February, which accelerated ripening without too much damage. Its fruit picked prior to the March furnace should be of high quality.The Riverlands produced some rich shiraz and some very interesting batches of newer varieties such as vermentino, montepulciano, albarino and fiano.TasmaniaTo those in denial of climate change, it must be increasingly difficulty to understand how Tasmania has just experienced, of all things, another darned hot vintage. Its grapes ripened completely again, which still causes a raised eyebrow from those of us who have been involved with Australian wine for long enough to remember this as a rarity. 2007 was one of Tassie’s best-ever seasons.The length of the season helped fashion reds and whites of concentration, structure and a softer acidity than usual. Yes, it was slightly earlier than normal, but this was due to a warm spring and Christmas period. February was cooler, but the mid-March heat helped things along a little aggressively, without quite cooking them as it did the remaining fruit in the northern parts of South Australia.With fine chardonnay and east coast pinot as base wines, the sparkling wines should be of high standard. Similarly, the cooler east coast held up better during the March heat, producing good pinot noir dry reds and tight, mineral chardonnay. The Derwent produced generous, succulent pinot, while Tasmania should also produce rich, musky pinot gris and spicy, viscous gewåürztraminer, fruit-driven sauvignon blanc and perfumed riesling.VictoriaVictorian growers and makers were forced to work hard and fast because of the heat. In situations like this, compromises are necessarily made, especially with varieties like shiraz. While the heatwave did not damage Victoria’s vintage to quite the same extent as it did South Australia’s, the effects were still serious, especially for vineyards north of the Great Dividing Range. Vineyards in central Victorian regions like Heathcote, the Pyrenees and the Strathbogies were harvested very quickly, but in many cases too late. The best parcels in regions like these were those harvested before the heat.The heatwave was responsible for wineries being put under enormous logistic pressure as varieties ripened and over-ripened in near-simultaneous fashion. However, some of the cooler more southerly regions fared very well, while the earlier-ripening northerly regions like Rutherglen managed to harvest mainly before the impact of the end-of-harvest heat. Encouraging reports are also coming from Beechworth and the King Valley.The Yarra Valley produced a mixed bag. Early-harvested chardonnay looks exceptional, while some of the cooler, higher-altitude vineyards had good seasons. Largely, however, it was a genuinely hot vintage in the Yarra, and many growers were caught with fruit on the vine that should have been taken off earlier. It was a year in which the cooler, south-facing slopes came into their own.Victoria’s highlights look set to come from the cooler regions of the Mornington Peninsula and Gippsland, again from earlier-harvested sites.Western AustraliaWith another classic vintage in the bag, Western Australian winemakers must be wondering why on earth their eastern state counterparts sound so fazed and unfulfilled. Look forward with some joy to more intense, opulent cabernet sauvignon and dark, savoury shiraz from the single part of Australia where viticultural conditions were almost traditional in nature.Crops were typically moderate, but some handy rains in spring and early summer stood the vineyards in good stead for the warmer, drier conditions ahead. While the Swan Valley was marginally early, the southern regions of Margaret River, Pemberton, Frankland River and Mount Barker enjoyed a longer ripening, with vintage winding up at usual time in mid April.Highlights should include intense, inky Margaret River cabernet sauvignon and Frankland River cabernet with deep, briary flavours. The warm season produced evenly ripened, soft tannins.While the unwooded wines are likely to be the best of them, the white highlights should feature some racy, intense chardonnay from Pemberton and Margaret River plus some fresh pea-like sauvignon blanc and zesty semillon. The Great Southern should release some excellent riesling, with perfume and citrusy character.
