2015 Vintage Report: exceeded all expectations
It's hard to believe that another year has passed! 2015 harvest was a great season, exceeding all expectations. Unlike the last two years, which 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 concludes with leaf senescence in autumn. Each step in this process plays a vital role in the development of the grapes and the characteristics of the year’s wine. Climate, disease pressure, pests and vine nutrition are all key factors influencing this process. Each year 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 vine flowering (inflorescence). The less extreme weather also meant that there was much more consistency with fruit set and bunch development. By January, summer had finally arrived and unlike the previous couple of years, was much milder. Temperatures averaged with highs of 24C and lows of 12C. This milder weather meant there were fewer incidences of wind and sun burn.
Optimal weather for grape growing season would be long, warm summer days that allow the grapes the chance to ripen fully and develop the perfect balance between 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). 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 10C, meaning the maturing process can grind to a halt, slowing down the ripening of the fruit.
By the end of March, the cooler weather of autumn had started to set in and 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 vines 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 healthier and more productive vines.
With our low rainfalls and windy climate, disease pressure from downy and powdery mildew remains low. However, this milder weather brought on other issues…wasps! And this year they were in abundance! It seems that no one knew that it would be such a large problem this year, catching us all a little off guard. While these little creatures might appear quite harmless they definitely caused a lot of damage to our fruit. They just love the sweetness of our grapes…sucking out the juice from the berries 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 and infrastructure works to our irrigation system, upgrading everything. We didn’t have to use it too much this year!
As always at Lyons Will we are keen to trial and improve processes. This year we performed a pruning trial on our well-established D5V12 Pinot Noir block, which we split in half and pruned using two different pruning techniques (spur and cane). 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 good 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:
We picked the Chardonnay on Friday, 27th of March followed by the Pinot on the Sunday. Our total Pinot yield was 2.7 tonnes to the acre, picked at 22.8 brix and at a TA of 6.9 g/L. With our Chardonnay we ended up with 1.7 tonnes to the acre, picked at 23.1 brix and at a TA of 6.6 g/L. We were up a whopping 43% in yield 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 concludes with leaf senescence in autumn. Each step in this process plays a vital role in the development of the grapes and the characteristics of the year’s wine. Climate, disease pressure, pests and vine nutrition are all key factors influencing this process. Each year 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 vine flowering (inflorescence). The less extreme weather also meant that there was much more consistency with fruit set and bunch development. By January, summer had finally arrived and unlike the previous couple of years, was much milder. Temperatures averaged with highs of 24C and lows of 12C. This milder weather meant there were fewer incidences of wind and sun burn.
Optimal weather for grape growing season would be long, warm summer days that allow the grapes the chance to ripen fully and develop the perfect balance between 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). 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 10C, meaning the maturing process can grind to a halt, slowing down the ripening of the fruit.
By the end of March, the cooler weather of autumn had started to set in and 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 vines 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 healthier and more productive vines.
With our low rainfalls and windy climate, disease pressure from downy and powdery mildew remains low. However, this milder weather brought on other issues…wasps! And this year they were in abundance! It seems that no one knew that it would be such a large problem this year, catching us all a little off guard. While these little creatures might appear quite harmless they definitely caused a lot of damage to our fruit. They just love the sweetness of our grapes…sucking out the juice from the berries 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 and infrastructure works to our irrigation system, upgrading everything. We didn’t have to use it too much this year!
As always at Lyons Will we are keen to trial and improve processes. This year we performed a pruning trial on our well-established D5V12 Pinot Noir block, which we split in half and pruned using two different pruning techniques (spur and cane). 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 good 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:
We picked the Chardonnay on Friday, 27th of March followed by the Pinot on the Sunday. Our total Pinot yield was 2.7 tonnes to the acre, picked at 22.8 brix and at a TA of 6.9 g/L. With our Chardonnay we ended up with 1.7 tonnes to the acre, picked at 23.1 brix and at a TA of 6.6 g/L. We were up a whopping 43% in yield from the previous year, making it an exciting second vintage for us.