Well… it’s getting very close to vintage.

The Shiraz grapes in McLaren Vale are going through veraison – when the grapes turn from green to red – which is a French term meaning “the onset of ripening”. As you might have guessed veraison is when the berries stop growing and start ripening.

The sugar content of the Chardonnay grapes is sitting around 9 baume which means we could see the start of vintage within 2-3 weeks, with the Shiraz a couple of weeks behind that.

At this stage 2013 looks like a good vintage, although the few hot days we had a couple of weeks ago resulted in a small amount of sunburn. The canopies are looking good and should support the crop load. Yields look like they’ll be up approximately 15% on 2012 across the board, but we’re still at the mercy of the weather gods – keep those fingers crossed.