Bumper crop for winemakers

Great Southern winemakers are predicting 2012 will be another bumper vintage after a season of ideal growing conditions for grapes.

Mt Barker Wine Producers’ Association president Kim Tyrer, from Galafrey Wines, said 2012 was looking like the year of riesling.

“Riesling is looking very strong this year already, really reflecting the variations in the terroir of the region with some floral, lemon and limey characteristics coming through,” she said.

“The East Coast has struggled a bit due to the floods over there, but that puts WA in a really strong position again this vintage.”

West Cape Howe winemaker Andrew Siddell agreed 2012 looked set to emulate last year’s strong vintage.

He said this was due to “ideal” growing conditions during the grape ripening period from January to March.

“Vintage is done and dusted, and it’s looking like it will be another great year for Great Southern wines,” Mr Siddell said.

“We had ideal growing conditions this year with those early Spring rains then things dried up into Summer.”

He said West Cape Howe’s riesling, sauvignon blanc and cabernet sauvignon were early standout varieties this vintage.

Plantagenet Wines winemaker Jeremy Hodgson also said early indications showed 2012 would be another good vintage for WA.

“We’ve had a really good run since 2007,” he said.

“We had a long, dry ripening period then a heatwave around the Labour Day long weekend in March which bought the whites on very quickly, so it was a bit of a rush for picking trying to get the grapes all off the vines at once.”

He also pointed to 2012 as a strong year for Great Southern rieslings.

“Our riesling is looking strong off vine, we are getting some fresh bright aromatics and a good acid profile,” he said.

“Reds across the board are looking strong too. Cabernet can be difficult to ripen in Albany, but it did really well this year.”

katherine.mountain@albanyadvertiser.com