Tim's views on the year so far

September 2023

The year so far:

Winter has been rather average with intermittent rainfall, strangely though each time we have had rain, there has been substantially more than was forecast.

Statistically the opening of the season is very similar to last year, which was later than for at least 20 years. Budburst is in full swing this week which is excellent weather: dry, warm (25C all week) and no wind forecast.

We are now officially in an El Nino weather pattern where the whole country is likely to experience warmer conditions than we have in the past few years. It seems from the long term forecast that South Australia is less likely to be adversely affected by El Nino than the eastern states. We hope this is the case.

We continue with our planting of varieties that we feel will be suited by Clare Valley’s moderate climate, to augment our substantial plantings of the traditional varieties such as Riesling, Shiraz and Grenache.

With our previous plantings of Fiano, we will be the biggest grower of Fiano in Clare this vintage and one of the biggest in South Australia. We are planting more Tempranillo and Sangiovese at our Watervale site this year, 4 Ha of each. The ground preparation is now complete and planting will begin once the soil warms to 13C, likely in late October.

You will see some of fruits of these developments when the 2022 Mr. Mick Sangiovese and 2021 Mr. Mick Tempranillo arrive on your shores in late autumn.

The plantings of these two varieties in our vineyards are now over 25 years old. We are extremely proud of the way the two varieties have taken to the warm summer growing conditions of the Clare Valley, which is an ideal climate to make these varieties shine.

I hope you continue to enjoy our wines.

Thank you for your support.

Tim Adams