Australian Wine News

Vintage 2008 report from Lazy Ballerina, McLaren Vale

by James Hook
(McLaren Vale)

Even the Ballerina felt the heat

No time to be Lazy at Lazy Ballerina Wines

In the McLaren Vale region of South Australia the general trend has been for earlier, hotter and shorter vintages. Conditions in the last two seasons have been warmer and drier than average and harvesting of Shiraz has begun in late February. With 50% of McLaren Vale's 6,800 hectares being planted to Shiraz these weeks are critical.

Over the last few season as vineyards are becoming more mature and management techniques are altered the vintage is becoming more compressed. What used to take seven to eight weeks to pick now is ready in four. Vintage 2008 was the most extreme example of this compression effect. Wineries quickly filled up with juice. Numerous blocks reached ripeness, with an overlap between early and mid ripening varieties. Later picked Chardonnay over lapped with the early ripening Shiraz. Vineyards across different soil types were all ready at once. Trucks, bins and grape pickers were all in high demand as many vineyards tried to harvest at the same time.

This year was a scramble. Worse, a hot and sweaty scramble. For those who were part of it this vintage will be remembered for its incredible March hot weather, however when it began summer was mild. January and February were cooler than average. Only the first few days of January were very hot with maximum temperatures over 40 degrees C. After that warm start the temperatures were in the 20 degrees C range most days. Very pleasant and great for ripening grape berries.

Vineyards were looking very good until the start of March. The wet spring produced good shoot length. Rainfall in late December and late January topped up soil moisture. Canopies were generally adequate to ripen their crop load. The good canopies and good leaf coverage helped white varieties handle the summer weather well (look out for some above average white wine from 2008, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and of course Chardonnay).

Then Adelaide's record heat wave started, 14 days above 35 degrees C, just as wineries were at full capacity. Nights that were above 30 degrees C and the whole state for South Australia not sleeping very well at night.

Fortunately of the four Shiraz vineyards we take fruit for Lazy Ballerina, three were safe and sound in the winery as the temperatures soared. The fourth vineyard was picked 3 days into the heat wave. This fruit was not ideal as it came into the winery at over 30 C. It took 2 days to cool down to a level where yeast was added to begin fermentation. It was then a constant battle to keep the yeast ticking over. The tiny yeast cells found it very hard to do their job of changing sugar in to alcohol.

The three other blocks all not heat affected are perhaps the best we have ever picked. The opinion of with other local winemakers is similar. Fruit before the heat wave is some of the best seen for 20 years. Vineyards picked during the heat wave is fruit the likes of which has never been seen.

How individual wineries handle their fruit intake will play a major part in the final wine quality for the season. How vineyards survived the heat wave and when they were picked will greatly affect the final quality of the wine made. Most have amazing fruit they are certain will do them proud in barrels next to wine that kept them scratching their heads into the early hours of the morning.

One winery took temperature control into its own hands raiding the local service stations of all its bags of ice. Wine and cellar workers were kept cool in equal measures.

Lazy Ballerina's problem child, picked in the heat wave is still in the winery as I write this. Its sister blocks are happily in barrel in my insulated shed, grinning. The heat wave fruit is receiving constant TLC in a big stainless steel tank. Like most problem children it has a dear place in my heart and we hope to get it straight soon. We have needed the specialist help of Hamish Maguire of Shottesbrooke fame like never before. All credit to his rescues efforts. The future of this wine has relied on his hard work and attention.

The Lazy B's hot ferment is not alone. Wineries have had widespread issues with poor fermentation. Nutrition issues were a factor in stopping fermentation. Many vineyards had low yeast assimilable amino nitrogen (YAN) in grape juice. YAN is needed as a source of nitrogen energy for yeast during fermentation.

It is possible that the grape vines pulled out nutrient from the fruit to maintain leaves over the extreme heat. This then lead to grape juice that did not have enough nitrogen energy for healthy yeast.

Another nutrition issue that effected fermentation was an imbalance of Fructose and Glucose levels. These are two types of sugar. Predominantly located in the pulp, Fructose and Glucose represent about 99% of the sugar content at the end of grape maturation. Yeasts break these sugars down into alcohol. Fruit that was picked during the heat wave had high levels of Fructose compared to Glucose. This caused many ferments to become stuck (not convert all of the sugar into alcohol) and needed special treatment.

In summary McLaren Vale 2008 is a vintage may both surprise and disappoint when it hits the shelves. To say that the heat wave ruined vintage is unfair as much of the fruit was already picked. To generalize it was a great vintage ignores the fruit that was baked by two weeks of heat and never reached its full potential. You cannot say how well these wines will drink, or age, or thrill, or win awards. McLaren Vale's network of trained and skilled winemakers will be working until the day of bottling to get these wines healthy and deliver the standard that the area has achieved in easier vintages. Whatever the results the year will be remember for the fourteen days when it was too hot to sleep and the romance of making wine was replaced by falling back on the science textbook.