Hard to believe but Budburst has arrived. As I write this newsletter the last of our vines are breaking their buds wide open and launching new shoots skyward with significant haste. The Chardonnay blocks actually started shooting on the 23rd of August, some three weeks earlier than expected, and now boast shoots carrying three leaves or more. More surprising though was the Member’s Block Ruby Cabernet; whilst it only started shooting on the 29th, its growth has been phenomenal, almost catching the Chardonnay. It must be the “unique” pruning styles employed by our dedicated squad of members! Our Vineyard Manager, Scott Ling is so far very pleased with the consistency of the budburst and the rate of growth thus far.

So why the early budburst, and what does it mean for the season ahead? Well we can really only speculate about these things but I guess the timing of budburst relates to several key factors including date of pruning and vine health / nutrition, but mainly vine dormancy relates specifically to temperature. The vine measures the temperature mainly through its underground root system. We are speculating that the significant rainfall we had in June and the mild winter conditions have kept the soil temperatures up and subsequently contributed to the early budburst. It will be very interesting to see how rapidly we progress to the actual harvest. Last years harvest was early by around two weeks, and this years budburst is another week or two earlier than last year. Considering the great level of soil moisture currently present and the fact we have a full dam for irrigation, we are anticipating a good crop, with yields up significantly on the last two drought affected vintages.