Warm weather bodes well for harvest
ALTHOUGH hot summer conditions have forced Ferguson Valley wineries to start harvesting early, the quality of the wine coming out of the region will remain excellent.
St Aidan Wines owner Mary Smith said their grapes were ready to be picked last week following warmer than usual conditions in summer.
"We started picking the sparkling wines and then the chardonnay and we also picked muscat, the warmer weather means that everything is ready at once but we have the facilities to deal with it," she said.
"The quality of the grapes are looking excellent and it should be a good year, there should be some interesting flavours."
Ferguson Falls Winery owner Peter Giumelli said the warm conditions meant they were also harvesting earlier this year.
"Generally in the past we harvest our red wines in the middle of March but it is much earlier this year," he said.
"We are starting to harvest this week and although cooler ripening conditions are better, the quality of the grapes are looking good."
Mr Giumelli said tempranillo was among the varieties they were set to harvest this week.
"My preference is for red wines and tempranillo is a relatively new variety that we first planted in 1999 and it's highly tannic," he said.
