Welcome to summer!

We’ve started the first day of the season here in the Barossa with a refreshing rain and a lovely cool, breezy day which is a nice respite from the recent 40+ days and record-breaking November heat.

But it looks like there’s plenty more warm weather in store over the next few months, with temperatures, once again, looking like they’ll be higher than average (*sigh*). And thanks to La Niña, we’re also expecting higher than average rainfall, especially across the eastern side of the country.

So what does this mean for our vineyards? Well, as usual when Mother Nature’s involved, the answer is… it depends. So far, so good. After a couple of very low cropping years, the 2021 vintage is shaping up to be a cracker, with good winter and spring rainfall setting the vines up beautifully and so far, not too many serious heat events. But, what happens next?

Rain through summer, if it’s well timed, can refresh the vines after heat spells, as long as it doesn’t go for too long or too late. At this stage the BOM is suggesting that the La Niña effect could be done and dusted by early autumn, so fingers crossed we won’t get rain too close to harvest. So the outlook is bright, as long as things continue to go our way.