Sour grapes over lousy summer

Powdery and downy mildew have already left one winemaker without a chardonnay vintage and as others ponder what sort of harvest they could be looking forward too, another fungus is lurking in the vines ready to feed on the ripening fruit.

Botrytis is a natural part of the vineyard and in most years spraying regimes have kept it under control, but the heavy rain that fell at spraying time has meant that the match head sized berries, especially in the white varieties such as chardonnay, took a long time to flower.

This long flowering combined with cover provided by damp petals makes it conducive for the fungus to take hold.

For winemaker Chris Derrez who began his career in the family winery in France, the season has been more similar to a European summer than a central west one.

"In Europe these kind of conditions are very common," Mr Derrez said.

"We have to handle the grapes and the vintage differently and add certain additives to the wine because botrytis is just a part of nature, we just have to deal with it."

Organic grape grower Justin Jarrett will begin harvesting his grapes next week and he has faith that the strength and resilience displayed by his organic vines will see him through.

"It is without doubt the worst season that the industry has had and only some of the generational apple growers have seen a summer like this before," Mr Jarrett said.

The possibility of botrytis affecting the chardonnay vintage at Canobolas-Smith winery isn't an issue simply because they won't be harvesting any of the grapes.

"The botrytis will have to fight through the downy and powdery mildew first," Mr Smith said.

"The grapes aren't ripening properly and although we used 50 per cent more spray than on an average year, we could have used more."

Judging when to spray has been complicated by the changeable weather and the exponential ability of fungal spores to replicate.

"In mid November the vines looked great but by mid December it was a disaster," Mr Smith said. "We will need to go in hard early with the sprays next year to get back to a low base level and although sprays aren't perfect, they do inhibit fungal growth."

Having written off his chardonnay vintage for 2011, Mr Smith will be concentrating his energies and expertise on his red wines.

"The cabernet sauvignon is looking the best it has for years," he said.