Mount Pleasant anticipate 2023 harvest
Late Spring in the Old Paddock vineyard at Mount Pleasant, Hunter Valley.
“With thanks to the wisdom of past generations establishing our vineyards in great growing locations, we are looking at harvesting a good crop despite the deluge of spring rainfall, cool summer days, strong winds and hail.”
Nick Cooper, Vineyard Manager at Mount Pleasant, gives us an insight into what the vineyard team are up against working with old vines in one of the toughest wine regions in Australia as they prepare for the 2023 harvest to start.
““The Hunter Valley is Australia’s oldest continuously producing wine region and being more northerly than most it is also one of Australia’s warmest.
It doesn’t benefit from the cooling effects of higher elevation that other NSW and Queensland wine regions do i.e. Orange, NSW (vineyards between 600-1000m). It has some maritime influence but it’s minimal with the coast over 50km away to the East. This makes for warm and humid summers which can make grape growing very tricky. Downy mildew is an ever-present concern through Spring/early Summer while Botrytis is a worry when grapes start to soften.
Most of Australia’s wine regions see winter dominant rainfall while the Hunter’s major downpours are regular through Summer. It’s typically Australia’s first grape harvest to kick off each year with first picks commencing in mid-to-late January. Those that work in the Hunter Valley are often seen as Australia’s most resilient vignerons!
This season in particular has been very wet and rather cool. The Hunter had a very wet late Winter and Spring which made for limited access to the vineyard blocks and increased disease pressure. Some vineyards (ours included) had to utilise a helicopter to get the first sprays on. Tractors were stuck in the mud!
The rain miraculously backed off through flowering which has given us large, plump bunches. Bunch number is average-to-high so we should get a good crop of clean fruit.
Harvest will begin with Old Hill Pinot Noir, then Chardonnay, 1921 Mothervine Pinot Noir and Semillon followed by Shiraz starting with the 1921 vines in the Old Paddock, the 1880 vines on the Old Hill and then finally the 1946 and 1965 Shiraz blocks at Rosehill in late February/early March.
Please pray that we don’t get massive amounts of rain between now and the end of February!”
Mount Pleasant is the guardian of some of Australia’s most historic heritage vineyards. Their rare ancestral vines in the Hunter Valley include some of the oldest clone plantings in the country and their Old Hill vineyard is the oldest Pinot Noir vineyard in Australia.