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2002 vintage report for Grampians (Victoria)

Best’s Wines chief executive Viv Thomson and his forebears have grown winegrapes in the Grampians for several generations, but he has never seen a season like 2002 before.
‘Firstly, I cannot remember the fruitset being as bad, and on top of that it’s the latest year I can ever remember,’ he said.
Best’s Concongella vineyards at Great Western were in the grip of an extended dry spell that seemed ready to run into a fourth consecutive year.
‘We had good spring rains, which took the dams from dry to about a third full,’ Viv said.
‘After a warm winter, budburst came early, and then it just stayed cold and windy, so we had bad fruitset.’
He said crop levels were down 30 to 40% overall, with Chardonnay down about 60%.
‘Chardonnay was all small berries, it was just a mess, though the Pinot wasn’t too bad (down about 20%.)’
The biggest challenge was getting the grapes ripe.
‘It was cool to cold right through the summer … well, we didn’t have a summer. We had spring, then we got into autumn,’ Viv said.
‘We had the most fantastic autumn. It just went on and on. We had a bit of rain in the middle of February but the April rain didn’t have much effect. According to standard measures the fruit was ready, but although there were plenty of sugars there were not sufficient flavours. I think most wines made this year will be good, but not great … I’d give it 8 out of 10, and I’d never give 10, 1998 was a 9 plus. Our top wines were very, very good, as good as we’ve ever made.’
Mike McCrae from Montara Wines was very pleased with his reds in particular. He experienced conditions similar to most in the Grampians region, with reduced yields being a major bugbear. Merlot was down by a massive 80%. On the bright side, quality was still present.
‘I was very pleased with the intensity of colour and flavour from our Pinot Noir,’ he said.