The 2015 Harvest -exceeded all expectations
It's hard to believe that another year has passed! 2015 harvest was a great season which exceeded all expectations. Unlike the last 2 years, that were extremely hot, this season was a pleasant change. The mild spring and summer brought on perfect growing conditions for our grapes.
The growth cycle of the vines began with budburst in spring (late September) and concluded with the falling of the leaves in autumn (late April). Each step in this process plays a vital role in the development of the grapes and the characteristics for this year’s wine….climate, disease pressure, pests and vine nutrition, all key factors influencing this process. Each year, here at Lyons Will we spend quite a bit of time monitoring the effects of these factors….and this year it seems to have paid off.
So what was the weather like this year?
Spring was quite mild with little rain, this helped to create great conditions for the flowering stage of the vine (inflorescence). The less extreme weather also meant that there was a much more consistency with fruit set and bunch development.
By January, summer had finally arrived….. and unlike the previous couple of years, summer was much milder. Temperatures averaged highs of 24 degrees C and lows of 12 degrees C. This milder weather meant there were fewer incidences of wind and sun burn.
Optimal weather during our grape growing season is long, warm summer days that allow the grapes the chance to ripen fully and develop the perfect balance between the levels of acid and sugar. In February we saw a burst of warmer weather which meant the grapes started to progress quickly into veraison (berries started to soften and change colour as they began to ripen). We were all set for early picking, however March once again saw milder temperatures, with cool nights. In Lancefield, due to our higher altitude, we often see night time temperatures dropping below the 10 degrees C, meaning the maturing process can grind to a halt, slowing down the ripening of the fruit. This resulted in a longer verasion but a more complex development of acid.
By the end of March, the cooler weather of autumn had started to set in and all of a sudden the leaves started to change colour. The vineyard then once again became a hive of activity with pickers, bins, tractors and our vineyard dog (Pickles) helping out with harvest.
Other factors influencing our harvest this year….
Because vines are sensitive to variations in temperature and seasonal changes, understanding the phenology of the plant is important in improving the quality and output of the vineyard. We analysed the plants made an assessment and took steps to rectify the issues. This year’s core issue is with competitive weeds, in particular, the black wattle. We painstakingly removed as much of this plant as possible by hand, reducing competition for nutrients and resulting in a healthier and more productive plant.
With our low rainfalls and windy climate, disease pressure from things such as downy and powdery mildew remained low. However, this milder weather brought on other issues….wasps this year were in abundance! It seems that no one knew that it would be such a large problem this year, taking us all a little off guard. Whilst these little creatures might appear quite harmless they definitely caused a lot of damage to our fruit. These little pests just loved the sweetness of our grapes…sucking out the juice from our grapes one by one. The exposure of sugary juices resulted in an increase pressure of bunch rot infection (botrytis). This fungus thrives in high humidity and still air. Luckily Lancefield isn’t very humid and days are often windy, so we rarely have too much of an issue with botrytis, two huge benefits of having a cool climate vineyard.
Just like every year….towards the end of the season the birds once again flocked! Being next to a state forest means rosellas, lorikeets and cockies are difficult to keep away from our grapes, so just like every year netting was vital! For any bird watchers, end of veraison is the perfect time to come on down…
Improvements made to the vineyard…
Future proofing is something we take seriously, particularly with the issues of climate change. Having enough water is crucial to ensuring healthy growth of the vines. This year we took major steps to improve our dam’s catchment of water and infrastructural works to our irrigation system, upgrading everything…sadly we didn’t have to use it too much this year!
As always at Lyons Will we are always keen in trialling and improving processes, such as testing two different pruning techniques (spur and cane pruning). Luckily enough we have a well-established D5V12 block which this season we split in half to trial…the purpose of the trial was to look at the differences in the quality of the fruit and the growing potential of the plant. It is safe to say both techniques performed well on our vineyard.
So what does all this mean?
Overall Lyons Will had a great 2015 harvest, with great quantities of fruit and well developed flavours. Overall, we estimate most vineyards that picked will have fantastic vintages, with plenty to share around this year.
The numbers:
First we picked the Chardonnay on Friday, 27th of March followed by the Pinot on the Sunday. Total Pinot yield was 2.7 tonnes to the acre, picked at 22.8 brix and 6.9 TA (total acid). Chardonnay ended up with 1.7 tonnes to the acre, picked at 23.1 brix and 6.6 TA. We were up a whopping 43% from the previous year, making it an exciting second vintage for us.
The growth cycle of the vines began with budburst in spring (late September) and concluded with the falling of the leaves in autumn (late April). Each step in this process plays a vital role in the development of the grapes and the characteristics for this year’s wine….climate, disease pressure, pests and vine nutrition, all key factors influencing this process. Each year, here at Lyons Will we spend quite a bit of time monitoring the effects of these factors….and this year it seems to have paid off.
So what was the weather like this year?
Spring was quite mild with little rain, this helped to create great conditions for the flowering stage of the vine (inflorescence). The less extreme weather also meant that there was a much more consistency with fruit set and bunch development.
By January, summer had finally arrived….. and unlike the previous couple of years, summer was much milder. Temperatures averaged highs of 24 degrees C and lows of 12 degrees C. This milder weather meant there were fewer incidences of wind and sun burn.
Optimal weather during our grape growing season is long, warm summer days that allow the grapes the chance to ripen fully and develop the perfect balance between the levels of acid and sugar. In February we saw a burst of warmer weather which meant the grapes started to progress quickly into veraison (berries started to soften and change colour as they began to ripen). We were all set for early picking, however March once again saw milder temperatures, with cool nights. In Lancefield, due to our higher altitude, we often see night time temperatures dropping below the 10 degrees C, meaning the maturing process can grind to a halt, slowing down the ripening of the fruit. This resulted in a longer verasion but a more complex development of acid.
By the end of March, the cooler weather of autumn had started to set in and all of a sudden the leaves started to change colour. The vineyard then once again became a hive of activity with pickers, bins, tractors and our vineyard dog (Pickles) helping out with harvest.
Other factors influencing our harvest this year….
Because vines are sensitive to variations in temperature and seasonal changes, understanding the phenology of the plant is important in improving the quality and output of the vineyard. We analysed the plants made an assessment and took steps to rectify the issues. This year’s core issue is with competitive weeds, in particular, the black wattle. We painstakingly removed as much of this plant as possible by hand, reducing competition for nutrients and resulting in a healthier and more productive plant.
With our low rainfalls and windy climate, disease pressure from things such as downy and powdery mildew remained low. However, this milder weather brought on other issues….wasps this year were in abundance! It seems that no one knew that it would be such a large problem this year, taking us all a little off guard. Whilst these little creatures might appear quite harmless they definitely caused a lot of damage to our fruit. These little pests just loved the sweetness of our grapes…sucking out the juice from our grapes one by one. The exposure of sugary juices resulted in an increase pressure of bunch rot infection (botrytis). This fungus thrives in high humidity and still air. Luckily Lancefield isn’t very humid and days are often windy, so we rarely have too much of an issue with botrytis, two huge benefits of having a cool climate vineyard.
Just like every year….towards the end of the season the birds once again flocked! Being next to a state forest means rosellas, lorikeets and cockies are difficult to keep away from our grapes, so just like every year netting was vital! For any bird watchers, end of veraison is the perfect time to come on down…
Improvements made to the vineyard…
Future proofing is something we take seriously, particularly with the issues of climate change. Having enough water is crucial to ensuring healthy growth of the vines. This year we took major steps to improve our dam’s catchment of water and infrastructural works to our irrigation system, upgrading everything…sadly we didn’t have to use it too much this year!
As always at Lyons Will we are always keen in trialling and improving processes, such as testing two different pruning techniques (spur and cane pruning). Luckily enough we have a well-established D5V12 block which this season we split in half to trial…the purpose of the trial was to look at the differences in the quality of the fruit and the growing potential of the plant. It is safe to say both techniques performed well on our vineyard.
So what does all this mean?
Overall Lyons Will had a great 2015 harvest, with great quantities of fruit and well developed flavours. Overall, we estimate most vineyards that picked will have fantastic vintages, with plenty to share around this year.
The numbers:
First we picked the Chardonnay on Friday, 27th of March followed by the Pinot on the Sunday. Total Pinot yield was 2.7 tonnes to the acre, picked at 22.8 brix and 6.9 TA (total acid). Chardonnay ended up with 1.7 tonnes to the acre, picked at 23.1 brix and 6.6 TA. We were up a whopping 43% from the previous year, making it an exciting second vintage for us.