Weed control on the vineyard has been good over the winter period and winter rainfall is continuing to fill the soil profile with moisture. Trellis Repairs are continuing at the vineyard and likely to finish in the next week or two. A review and maintenance of the irrigation system is currently being completed and pruning is anticipated to be finished within the next fortnight. Overall the vineyard is neat and tidy and nearly ready for budburst and the 2009 vintage.

Trellis Repairs are continuing at the vineyard. Australian Vintage has been busily finalising repairs to the property. The recent investors meeting in Sydney was very positive with unanimous support for the continuation of the vineyard project. Pruning will commence over the coming weeks. A new subcontract manager, Windowrie Vineyard Services has been engaged to commence pruning and viticultural management of the property.

Post harvest maintenance is continuing with large quantities of broken trellis posts being replaced. A new pump shed has just been completed, as has the end of season irrigation line treatments. We are busily planning for the most cost effective management of the vineyard in 2009 as the Australian Vintage management contract is set to expire at the end of this financial year. In the next month composted manure will be applied to the vineyard to add organic matter and nutrients to the soil.

Vintage is complete at Cowra Crossing with 844 tonnes of Chardonnay picked from the vineyard; an excellent result considering the tough season. Fruit quality was quite good with only a couple of isolated pockets of Botrytis detected in the vineyard due to the intense rainfall over summer. Now that vintage is complete we are turning our thoughts to post harvest maintenance of the vineyard.

Rain Rain Rain …. An abundance of rain has fallen at Cowra, along with many parts of NSW and QLD as you would have seen in the media. This rain has delayed harvest; fortunately the fruit is sound without the presence of Botrytis (a fungus which grows on the fruit when moisture and water is present; very detrimental to wine quality). With some dryer weather on the way, vintage should be complete within the next fortnight.

The vineyard at Cowra looks really good and has recovered very well from the late frost. More recent crop estimates are significantly better than those predicted early on in the season. Vine health is excellent and the canopy is appropriate for the crop load and will result in good fruit quality. It is anticipated that harvest will begin by the end of the month.

Unfortunately this year Cowra has suffered a late frost to the vineyard. This has reduced the cropping level to around half of the predicted 1,100 tonnes. Due to the beneficial grape purchase contract on this vineyard there will be no financial consequences as a result of the frost. In recent months rainfall patterns have been improving with regular showers across the vineyard.

Vine Canopies are hanging on really well ensuring good carbohydrate storage after vintage. Maintenance of the vineyard and trellis is continuing. Preliminary assessments of vine capacity for pruning indicate that it is unlikely that the vines will return to full crop in 2008 as the vines have been severely affected by the drought.