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1998 vintage report for Mornington Peninsula (Victoria)

Mornington Peninsula experienced a big increase in yield — between 50 and 100% — of generally very high quality grapes across all white varieties. Ian Macr’ of the region’s Vignerons Association said the increased yield was due to bigger bunches with large berries and many berries per bunch. Weather during vintage was initially mild and dry but deteriorated later to cool and moist. ‘Long, mild ripening conditions resulted in grapes that ripened fully with excellent colour and sugar/acid,’ Ian said. ‘Some botrytis occurred late in the season. Ian said quality was very high for Pinot Noir, but unless crops were thinned on later ripening varieties, full ripening occurred very late in deteriorating weather conditions.’ He said the large crop exposed the serious shortage of storage and processing capacity. ‘The magnitude of the crop increase was not predicted sufficiently early for satisfactory planning and significant production was sent out of the region.’