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1996 vintage report for Coonawarra (South Australia)

As harvesting at Coonawarra drew to a close, the region’s winemakers were confident of an excellent vintage. Unlike other parts of southern Australia, Coonawarra escaped the heavy rains during its vintage and experienced classic autumn weather of still, sunny days to ripen the fruit. President of the Coonawarra Vignerons Association, Jim Brand, expects wines from this vintage to be big, full and soft. ‘The colour this year is fantastic; it’s deeper and bigger and there are some softer tannins in the Cabernets,’ he said. Ian Hollick, chairman of the Viticultural Council of the South East of South Australia, says he’s very pleased with yield and quality of the fruit. ‘There is lovely colour and flavour in the reds, good structure and some nice acidity in the whites. We are very happy.’ Ideal growing conditions of the past season have resulted in good average yields throughout the region, despite frost damage to early varieties in some vineyards last September.