DRINKSTER enjoyed a perfect Portuguese-influenced seafood lunch today at Philippe and Paula Horta's stunning new restaurant at Port Noarlunga, on the Gulf St Vincent in McLaren Vale. The vignoble is enjoying its first real spell of sunshine after a lot of muggy weather, so the vines are drying out and bursting into full leaf.There were even a few bathers on the beach. A few. Check these views from the table at Horta's. If your local beach is crowded, and you're hungry and thirsty, get down here quick.
That's a glass of the crunchy, cool as ice Dandelion Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc under immediate threat.
Sky doctors, however, are warning that another La Niña is also gloomily threatening. This is the same set of conditions that saw the eastern third of Australia under floodwater for vintage 2011, and most of Australia's grapes blitzed by killer moulds and mildews.
At the moment, it appears that the event will not be as severe as last summer's, but the experts are holding their counsel, offering only cautious warnings.
Perhaps the biggest danger to South Australia - so far - is that the naive optimism of troubled Murray-Darling grape growers will be encouraged as they convince themselves that this is a return to normal river flows. 2011 was the second-wettest vintage in Australian history, which certainly filled the river, but in an highly abnormal manner.
Click here to read the lastest guarded long-term forecasts.
4 comments:
So all those thousands of growers who still haven't paid for last vintages sprays should be stacking it obn now but wheres the money comin from?
Already biting nails in TasVegas.
Whitey, since you've been runing your Panic Button summaries of vintage in the northern hemishpere, it's pretty obvious theres no such thing as a normal year anymore.
I FEAR THEY'RE ONTO IT WHITEY - THE VALES HAVE NEVER FELT MORE LIKE SOUTH QUEENSLAND THAN THEY DO THIS MORNING (20 OCTOBER)
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