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2011 vintage report for Bathurst (Victoria)

Supplied by Tony Hatch, president, Bathurst Regional Vignerons’ Association
Growing season: While most vineyards escaped the spring frosts at budburst in an outstanding start to the season, the welcome early rains eventually became excessive, and well above average. Temperatures, on the other hand, were below average for the most part. Together with windy conditions, spray programs were difficult to maintain. Downy mildew was an immediate problem. Nonetheless, fruitset was encouraging, and subsequent early ripening showed great promise. Powdery mildew began to appear and became a constant threat. One by one, the ‘heavy duty’ fungicides sold out, and eventually even wettable sulfur became unobtainable. Some vineyards lost entire crops, while others had significantly reduced yields due to mildews and bunch rot.
Vintage period: The cool conditions described above significantly prolonged the vintage period. Harvest was some three to four weeks later than usual, and some vineyards were simply unable to ripen their later varieties. Baumes were well below those of past years, though this might not be a bad thing. It will be refreshing to see alcohols below 13% again. Most wineries would have experienced problems getting the reds through malolactic fermentation in the cooler conditions without expensive heating. Many will wait for spring.
Yields and quality: Bathurst is a tiny region in any year, but in 2011 the total crush will be below 200 tonnes. Although there was a lot of fruit dropped on the ground, and I doubt that 2011 will be a standout vintage, some of that which made it to the crushers was pretty good quality. We remain optimistic.