Upside to delayed grape harvest? Hail-damaged fruit can make great wine

Hunter Valley winemakers say they never thought they’d start harvesting in February, but there is relief all round with pickers out in the vineyards.

There were fears for this year’s vintage after a severe flood event in the region last July and a massive January hail storm battered grapes right before harvest.

“This is probably the latest start that we’ve had that I can remember,” said experienced Agnew wines vineyard manager Shaune Flynn who has been looking after the historic Audrey Wilkinson vineyard.

“We had a difficult season and we thought we did pretty well to keep the fruit in good quality.

“Then all of a sudden we had a hail storm.

“There was a lot of variation on the damage done, but it’s anywhere from 20 to 50 per cent crop loss at Audrey Wilkinson.”

Picking usually ramps up in early January, but the wet weather has persisted over the past several months, delaying the harvest.

But Mr Flynn said there could be an upside.

“Sometimes that hail-damaged fruit can actually make some great wine because there’ll be less fruit on the vine so our flavours are possibly more concentrated.

“Stranger things have happened. It’s quite possible they’ll make some great wine from it.”

Acknowledgement of country

Winemakers set a new tradition this year by starting the harvest with a smoking ceremony and acknowledging Wonnarua people, the traditional custodians of the Hunter Valley.

“With all the bad events through the years, with COVID, the storms, the droughts and that, I could see where they were coming from,” elder Uncle Warren Taggart said.

“They just needed some support through our heritage.”

It was hoped the blessing of the vines would become an annual tradition for every harvest.

“The smoking ceremony started with a cleansing to have everyone walk through the smoke, so when they go back to their own wineries, they’re clean of all bad spirits,” Uncle Warren said.

“I walked through the vines and asked our creator Baiame to look over these vines.”

Brokenwood winemaker Kate Sturgess said hundreds of people attended the ceremony.

“So far it seems to have brought us very good luck, because it hasn’t really rained heavily since, and we certainly haven’t had any more hail,” she said.

Hundreds of fruit pickers, including backpackers and retirees, have been out in the vineyards, starting work early in the morning, and finishing up before the heat sets in.

“It’s good to work outside. I prefer it over the winery that’s for sure,” said picker Remy Thomas.

Ms Sturgess said she had been waiting weeks to get started.

“You can’t rush these things,” she said.

“Mother Nature makes the decision and we just need to make sure we’re making the best wines.

“Everything is looking really promising so far. I’m just excited to get it into the winery.”