Filter reports by year

• 2015
• 2014
• 2013
• 2012
• 2011
• 2010
• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002
• 2001
• 2000
• 1999
• 1998
• 1997
• 1996

2010 vintage report for Cowra (New South Wales)

Supplied by the Cowra Region Vineyard Association
Growing season: After some decent rain through winter, we again experienced an extremely dry spring with only 49mm received between September and November. Again, budburst was about one week early (what is normal now anyway?). As has been the norm with these dry springs, we received some cold weather in early October with resultant frosts. Some vineyards reported ‘wipeouts’ of some blocks and would have destroyed 40% of the region’s crops. We then had the dust and heat in November which mainly affected flowering in the later crops. By the end of November, most varieties were two weeks advanced of normal. Again, lack of water supply affected the region with no help from above. The region’s dams were also at record low levels and allocations were kept at the bare minimum. We received some nice rain in December and January and also experienced some mild temperatures which helped slow the ripening crop down a bit.
Vintage: Harvest started towards the end of January with some people taking off sparkling base. Chardonnay got things under way for still wine at the end of January and into February. A lot of the whites had been harvested before we received some big rains during 12-15 February. This meant there was a fair gap between reds and whites but we did not see much damage as most of the reds were still at fairly low Baumé levels. There was some more rain in early March (7-9 March) that affected some fruit but, again, damage was fairly minimal and most growers were just happy that it could still rain! There were reports of botrytis in some varieties but it was only minimal and most growers were able to control it. Most of the fruit was harvested by the end of March which was a week or so ahead of schedule.
Yields and quality: Wineries were happy with the fruit they took off this year as long as they had enough supplementary irrigation. Highlights would be Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon with flavour development coming in at low Baumés with some nice tannin development. Yields were down about 50% on the previous year and 75% on our largest vintage.