Orange’s grape growers are hoping to see the sun by the weekend, so they can finish their harvest.
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The region has been drenched with 94.6 millimetres of rain so far this month, more than 20 millimetres more than the March average.
“It’s not devastating,” Orange Region Vignerons’ Association (ORVA) president Justin Jarrett said.
“Everyone could see the rain coming, anything which was close to perfect was taken off prior to the rain.
“It’s not likely to impact the vintage negatively, if we had a tough season and had this finish, it would be a different story.”
“If this continues for another seven days, there is a chance some disease may occur.
“By Saturday and Sunday, the weather patters should have shifted and we’ll move into drier and cooler conditions.”
Cargo Road Wines winemaker James Sweetapple said the wet conditions made it particularly difficult for harvest.
He said any grape growers find the wet conditions a challenge, especially as they waited to harvest the vintage.
“The grapes like to rot, stretch and get disease, we need a warm, sunny harvest,” Mr Sweetapple said.
Everyone could see the rain coming, anything which was close to perfect was taken off prior to the rain.
- ORVA's Justin Jarrett
Philip Shaw winemaker Daniel Shaw said the white wine grapes and Pinot Noir had been picked from the vines.
“Rain’s never a good thing at this time of year. The Shiraz was nearly ready and it will set us back by a week to 10 days,” Mr Shaw said.
“The rain’s a problem, but if we have good dry weather, we’ll be okay.”
Following a similarly wet finish to the season in 2011, Mr Jarrett said many growers had adapted their growing techniques and there were mostly red varieties left.
Of those red varieties, Cabernet, Merlot and cab franc are the most rain-resistant.
Mr Jarrett was inspecting his own grapes destined for See Saw Wines, he said it had been a fantastic season until now.
“They’re tougher berries with thicker skins, I’ve just looked at some of our varieties, and they’d like a little sun,” he said.
“The event we’re having now is well outside an average March. Historically, March and April are two of the driest months of the year for Orange.”