The weather at Bloodwood - is different!

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it has been wet. It has been wet for what seems to be forever. And the forecast from “The Bureau” is that more wet will arrive on its regular hydro-illogical cycle until, well..forever. Besides planning for the next drought, what does that mean for we agricultural types attempting to extirpate a living from the earth which, as I may have mentioned, is wet.

I know it’s a first world problem, given the ongoing disaster Eastern Australia, but from a viticulturist’s point of view all this rain and cloud looks like another less than ideal vintage next autumn; another less than ideal vintage after three similarly challenging years so far this decade.

The 2021 growing season was cool and wet. If we accept a growing season begins on the 1st of October, we recorded 251 mm of rain and 193 degree days to the 19th of November 2021. After a miserable winter this year, corresponding figures for 2022 are 335 mm of rain and 167 degree days to date. Chances are you are statistically shocked. Not only is it wetter and colder than the miserable corresponding time last growing season but in a discussion on weather, I am quoting actual numbers.

But what do these numbers mean if you are attempting to grow and more critically, ripen grapes in Orange this year? They mean that even if you can get on top of the weeds along the vine row enough to minimise late season frost damage, and that you are somehow able to keep suppressing the downy, powdery and bunch rot mildews without completely ruining the soil structure of your vineyards by driving 3 tonnes of tractor and spray tank over weekly drenched soils, ripening will still be a challenge.

So what have the Bloodwood Politburo done to address these plebeian challenges? After pruning for a drought, we here at the unwashed end of activities have rebuilt our 4wd electric ATV fleet to carry 100 litres of copper and sulphur fungicide and developed extraordinary skills in hand spraying each and every vine.

Wait a minute… pruning for a drought!..what’s that about? Well if you anticipate a season during which sunshine will be at a premium, the fewer grapes each vine has to ripen will mean those that do make it through will be riper than those on a vine carrying a normal crop load. So for vintage 2023, we have pruned to approximately 50,000 buds (or around 3-4 tonnes) per hectare to give us the best chance possible. Until then, it’s back to the hand-spraying and mower-pushing for us here at the Bloodwood Ministry of Hope. All I can say is thank goodness Climate Change is a hoax..just imagine how wet it would be if it was real?