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2000 vintage report for Riverina (New South Wales)

What started out as a predicted bumper crop became a vintage many growers, liaison officers and winemakers would like to forget, according to Kerry DeGaris, industry development officer of the Wine Grapes Marketing Board in Griffith. ‘The early budburst in September became a distant memory as growers tried desperately to avoid botrytis and powdery infection and at the same time ripen grapes to winery specifications,’ she said. The area experienced a total of 100 mm of rainfall from January until the end of March, most falls coming in weekly intervals of 12 to 25 mm. This made conditions extremely difficult for most growers to get on to their vineyards to spray and harvest. The humidity experienced along with the rainfall caused botrytis problems in Shiraz particularly. Most of the whites (Semillon and Chardonnay) were picked before the bulk of the rain, and from all reports the wine being made from these varieties is quite good. Kerry said ripening became a problem for the later picked reds (Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon) with many reports of Baumes not exceeding 12. This made many growers want to hold on to the grapes until they were a bit riper, but with the threat of botrytis many had to pick with the resulting quality of the fruit only average. ‘On a good note, the botrytis Semillon was harvested well before Easter which indicates the extent of the infection on these grapes,’ Kerry said. The area’s total crush was in the vicinity of 166,000 tonnes with Shiraz (37,500) for the first time in living memory out-crushing Semillon (35,000). Merlot and Ruby Cabernet were two varieties which had significant increases in tonnage, with the only white variety to show any marked increase being Verdelho.