The 2022 vintage was set up by one of the coolest and wettest years in 2021 with 1165mm of rainfall recorded in that year. So, around Christmas time the switch was turned on it became one of the driest and warmest growing seasons in recent memory which would have been a problem for our dry grown vineyard normally however the sub-soil moisture stayed late into the growing season feeding water to the vines deep taproots 2-3meters below the surface, as a result the vines were happy.
So ,the growing season started with the warmest January since 2012 and a heat wave from the 18th -22nd January gave concern for sunburnt grapes however minimal leaf plucking was done so it was somewhat saved. Only 0.6mm rain was recorded for January.
February was the hottest since 2001 with only 10mm rain falling in the month (cf. 80mm in 2021)
In March the warm conditions continued with an Ave Max Temp of 27.1℃ and very little rain until a downpour at the end of March on the 27th.
The vintage was like the 2018 in that there was very little bird damage as the Marri blossom was prolific being the main food source for the Silvereyes instead of grapes.
The dry season also meant the quality of the grapes was very clean with no disease, the only thing to worry us a little was the prevalence of bushfires, however most occurred to the East, South and North of us however never close enough to cause smoke taint in our grapes.
Keith Mugford from our neighbour Mosswood Vineyards says you would have to go back to 1983 to find a vintage with similar conditions as 2022, in that year their wines were legendary so there is high optimism for our 2022 vintage wines.