PERFECT FOR THE PICKING: It has been a perfect lead in to grape harvest with the absence of extreme heat replaced by cool nights, which Brown Family Wine Group winemaker Joel Tilbrook says will help produce superlative flavours. PHOTO: Kurt Hickling. 

The 2023 wine vintage is shaping up to be one out of the box with perfect climatic conditions forecast to continue for Wangaratta district‘s winegrape growing region.

Brown Family Wine Group is still realising just how good the vintage could be with the harvest set back 3–4 weeks due to the cooler nights this year off the back of a super wet spring, all paving the way for a slower growing window.

Joel Tilbrook, Brown Brothers Milawa winemaker, has been busy with the harvest of Prosecco, Moscato and Yarra Valley Pinot recently, with the harvest of reds set to begin in the coming days.

“We had quite a cool and wet spring and a late and much slower start to the season, but since December it has almost been perfect weather for grape growing,” he said.

“We‘ve had lots of sunshine and generally the absence of rain and good ripening conditions.”

It‘s music to the ears of any wine lover out there as these conditions are setting up for succulent flavours based on a premium mix of acidity and sugars.

The history of winemaking shows that some of the best vintages have come when there is a slightly longer ripening period when the flavours develop in the grapes without the sugar level accumulating too quickly.

Tilbrook said particularly with warm nights you can lose the acidity quickly and accumulate sugar really quickly and sometimes the flavour doesn‘t get a chance to capture.

“The fruit is ripening up now when we‘ve got cooler nights and generally cooler days as well which lends to great flavour and acid accumulation,” Tilbrook said.

It‘s one of the latest harvests that Tilbrook has been a part of and this is not just for the Milawa vineyard but all of Brown Brothers‘ grape suppliers across Victoria and Tasmania.

“If the season holds out with the weather like we‘ve been having over the last couple of months then we‘re in for a cracker,” he said.

“If the weather closes out really quickly with an early break and the climate gets really cold in autumn then that might introduce a few challenges for us.”

Yields are looking to be below the long–term average, potentially by about 10–20 per cent with some varieties, but it‘s too early to give a definitive appraisal yet.

“You tend to get smaller bunches form and you can have challenges with fruit sets as we‘re going through flowering,” he said.

“The berries are forming on the bunch and there can be failed berries, therefore bunches have less berries and they weigh less.

“The yields are variable based on each vineyard and we haven‘t picked enough yet to get a crystallised view.”

Pizzini Wines winemaker Joel Pizzini was also thrilled with the beautiful weather and the remarkable conditions for the harvest after having undergone a “fairly challenging” growing season during the spring.

“We‘re happy that we‘re picking because there are plenty of others who aren‘t harvesting much because of the fungal issues due to the excessive rain,” Pizzini said.

“But now all the fruit is in great conditions and we‘re really set for quite a good year with pretty high quality wine coming out of the vintage across every variety.

“We don‘t need to make any rushed decisions or bring the berries off the vine and we can wait an extra week to make sure they get to full maturity.”

Pizzini likened the climate to that of an Indian summer or that seen in Tuscany and the fine weather conditions are set to continue into April.

The latest temperature outlook by the Bureau of Meteorology has April daytime temperatures “very likely” or a 60 per cent to greater than 80pc chance to be above median temperatures for much of Australia.

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