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How is 2010 vintage looking?

Well it is still too early to provide a meaningful comment on how the 2010 vintage will turn out. What we can say is that we have had wonderful rains in Denmark leading up to the onset of bud-burst in early September 2009.

A near neighbour, Phil Barnes, who keeps impeccable rainfall records, has advised us that in the period beginning May to the end of October we received 987.5 mm.  This represents approximately 95% of Denmark’s average annual rainfall (1042 mm from 1997 – 2008). 

The table and chart below are based on Phil Barnes’ rainfall records and summarise the cumulative rainfall in Denmark from 1997 to 2009.  Both the cumulative rainfall from January to October and the seasonal rainfall from September to August shows a trend of increasing rainfall since 2006.   The maximum June and November rainfalls recorded over the last 13 years occurred within the last season, giving rise to the last year’s maximum seasonal average of 1367 mm being 30% above average.

With such good rainfall, Denmark looks green and healthy and we doubt that there’s a better place to be and certainly nowhere better to grow exceptional grapes for wine!

Since bud-burst we have had intermittent falls of rain with warm sunny weather.  As you would expect in Denmark we also have the odd cold snap when winds blow from the southwest.

Flowering of the Chardonnay vines commenced in the first week of November and is now underway in the Merlot and Shiraz (3rd week November).  Our viticulturist Bryce Edwards had noted that flowering is earlier this year than it was last year.  We expect this to be positive, particularly for the Merlot and Shiraz varieties as we hope that final ripening of the red berries will occur while the heat of summer is still with us.

At the time of writing Denmark is shrouded in grey cloud with heavy rain showers falling periodically.  Vine growth is extremely vigorous and it won’t be long before hedging is required.  With these late rains we expect that there will be relatively little need for irrigation during the season.  If irrigation is required it is likely that it will only be needed in the second half of February or early March.

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