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2015 vintage report for Heathcote (Victoria)

Phil Meehan, Heathcote Winegrowers’ Association president, said local vineyards were monitoring the weather daily ahead of a start on harvesting Shiraz before signs of heat stress appeared in the
“Our shiraz vines look to have produced well again, helped by generally good conditions over spring and a summer climate this year that has allowed fruit on the vines to develop nicely,” Meehan said.
A week of warmer weather accelerated the final stages of maturity in the variety with most vineyards anticipating that they may have vintage in full swing within the next week.
“As our vines age, the quality of our already highly-acclaimed Shiraz releases continues to grow. The combination of vine maturity and climate has our members well placed to step up another notch in 2015.”
Tracie Young from Silver Spoon Estate said she was expecting an excellent vintage this year, with far higher yields than previous seasons.
“We’ve really worked very hard on our the vineyards over the winter months, changing what we normally do, nurturing the soil more, and strengthening the vines with harsher pruning techniques,” Young said. “The rewards will be in the higher quality of fruit and bigger bunches of grapes.”
Bruce Tyrrell from Tyrrell’s Wines said the vintage was over in the blink of an eye.
“Conditions in Heathcote mirrored last year, with some winter rain and a hot, dry summer,” Tyrrell said. “The last of this year’s fruit was delivered and all of it is just around 14 per cent alcohol, has loads of colour and loads of flavour.”