We’re gearing up for vintage here in the Barossa. Shiraz has just gone through veraison (when the grapes soften and change colour from green to purple) which indicates we’re only a few weeks away from picking.

Now’s the stage that we start to spend a lot of time in the vineyards tasting the fruit again and again, and waiting for signs of ripeness and for those amazing flavours to develop.

We had some welcome rain over the weekend that has freshened up the vines after a long dry spell, and this should help to kick off the next stage of ripening. Luckily, the rain was early enough, and won’t be hanging around, so there should only be benefit from it, rather than any downsides.

Crops are definitely down this year, but the flip side is that low crops mean greater concentration of goodies going into the fruit and that can lead to terrific flavours, colour, balance and overall quality.

I’ll keep you posted through the journey to ripeness. Let’s pray for a favourable end to the season.