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2005 vintage report for Murray Darling (NSW/Victoria)

Near-to-perfect weather and good-to-exceptional quality. That’s the snapshot view of the 2005 vintage in the Murray Valley. The downsides to the season were the further reduction in prices and the leaving behind of some Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz. Working out how much remained unsold is largely anecdotal at this time of the year, but we estimate that unsold Chardonnay may have run to several thousand tonnes, with the unsold reds perhaps amounting to 7,000 tonnes. More will be known when the ABS publishes its annual Australian Wine & Grape Industry report. For the 2005 edition, expected to be available in January 2006, growers were asked to estimate the varieties and tonnes that were not sold.
Even though weather conditions remained relatively mild throughout, there were, of course, some events that we could have done without. The first significant weather impact came on 12 October when the temperature reached 40°C—the region’s highest ever October temperature. It was short lived, though. The day following was in the mid 20s, and thereafter conditions remained relatively mild until the second week of January when the mercury reached 42°C on one day.
Of the rain events, the only significant falls came in November during which about 30 mm fell.
Summer was milder than average—the average maximum was 31°C; the average minimum 15.6°C. The hottest day was 11 January, with a peak of 42.2°C. The coldest day was 3 February, with a top temperature of just 17.7°C. Rainfall of 55.4 mm was lower than average.
The 2005 vintage was all but over in the Murray Valley by the end of April, when conditions remained quite warm, as evidenced by the record overnight temperature of 22.4°C recorded on 3 April.
Chardonnay for sparkling base harvested in late January signaled the start of the ’05 vintage. As has become the norm, the reds ripened much earlier than what was customary before vineyard management practices were implemented to reduce vigor and yields. Consequently, the harvesting of Merlot and Shiraz started in mid to late February, with Cabernet Sauvignon following around mid March. Whereas it was once common for wineries to virtually finish their intake of Chardonnay before accepting reds, they were hard at work this year processing both at the same time.
Harvesting was disrupted by severe storms in much of the region in the first week of February, the heaviest rain falling in the Swan Hill area around Robinvale.
A severe storm came out of nowhere on Saturday 19 February causing cause considerable damage to properties at Wemen near Robinvale, with hail stripping vines and damaging berries.
Winemakers have described the Murray Valley vintage as ‘seriously good, very much like 2002 when it was also mild’. The Chardonnay crop was up significantly on 2004; the reds were about average with very good colour development.
The overall tonnes in the Murray Valley in 2005 won’t be known until completion of the Wine Grape Crush Survey this in July, but it is assumed that production would have exceeded 400,000 tonnes to leapfrog the 2004 record of 396,000 tonnes.