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2012 vintage report for Riverland (South Australia)

Most Riverland wineries finished crushing before Easter, having launched into the start of harvest in late January.
Riverland Winegrowers Association executive officer Chris Byrne reported that the region had experienced a good vintage for growers and wineries.
“Despite some early nervousness caused by rain events and some fairly strong disease indicators most growers and viticultural officers were able to manage the risk and harvest the majority of grapes,” he said.
“Despite sudden heavy downpours in some areas, the Riverland was fortunate compared with Sunraysia and the Riverina.”
The region also had very few hot days and no drawn out heatwaves as has been experienced in recent years.
“When all the data has been tallied up by the Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board in four to five months, it is likely to reveal that yields will be up slightly to about 390,000 tonnes with approximately 330,000 produced by independent growers and about 60,000 produced by wineries,” Byrne said.
“Quality is certainly up according to winemakers and prices will ease up by between 10-15%. Total farmgate income to the region’s growers is likely to increase from approximately $86 million to a little over $100 million.
“Under the circumstances, these are pleasing results for this region, bearing in mind that the exchange rate is still making it extremely difficult to be competitive in export markets. Also, Riverland growers are still under pressure from surplus production of C-grade fruit from other regions.”

Source: Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker May 2012