The heat is on, but harvest looking good in King Valley

It has been an exceptionally hot and dry summer in the King Valley, but grape growers who managed to avoid damage from an unseasonal frost late last year, are looking forward to seeing what this year's harvest will bring. At Dal Zotto Wines in Whitfield, chief winemaker Michael Dal Zotto said he can't remember the last time they've experienced such a dry summer - or seven days in a row when temperatures exceeded 40 degrees - but having good access to water has meant they've been able to prevent their vines from becoming over-stressed. He said they consider themselves extremely lucky not have been impacted by the frost which occurred in mid-November. "We're looking at starting harvesting pinot grigio in the last week of February, which is about a week later than what we'd consider a normal vintage," he said. "The last two years have been early, and this year is not particularly late - and everything is looking good so far. "The not-so-hot days right now and relatively cooler nights are great timing and will help kick things along a bit." Mr Dal Zotto said tests are showing the Baumé across grape varieties beginning to rise quite quickly, so once harvest begins, it's likely to be a very busy time over the weeks to come. He said following in the wake of the pinot grigio, will be the prosecco - likely to be in by mid-March - with harvest expected to finish sometime around or after Easter. "All indications are that volume will be similar to last year, or a little bit down, but we won't know until we actually start harvesting - hopefully our estimates will be accurate, but we'll see," he said. "We're really pleased with the prosecco and sangiovese; the sangiovese looks amazing." * At King River Estate in Edi, the hot, dry weather has also been challenging, not just for the grapes, but for gardens and water tanks, which many in the region rely on for drinking water. Owner and viticulturist John Butler said he was hopeful some forecast wet weather this week would eventuate, to give the ground a good soak and freshen things up. "We got hit by frost, more at our Flying Duck vineyard (where prosecco, sangiovese and shiraz are grown) than at our King River Estate vineyard, which was quite unexpected," he said. "There was a very small section affected at King River Estate, but it was quite extensive (three kilometres away) in the Flying Duck vineyard." Mr Butler said they expect harvest to begin late this year, with the extreme heat having slowed things down, and the prosecco harvest may begin in early March. He said they are still assessing exactly what they will make, and while there won't be any Flying Duck Shiraz this year, they made plenty in 2025 which was looking good, so don't expect to run out of stock. * Brown Family Wine Group chief operations officer Joel Tilbrook said despite the late heat, it was actually a cool start to the growing season, which has led to vintage beginning later than usual. He said they are now up and running with King Valley pinot grigio being harvested, some chardonnay, and prosecco a couple of weeks away. "It's a moderately yielding year, but the quality is looking really strong, so that's good," he said. "Cool nights and warm days are a pretty good recipe for vintage - it means the grapes are nice and cool at night when we're harvesting and they retain their acidity, while the warm days mean everything is still ripening well." Mr Tilbrook said vines were quite tolerant, and good access to water and suitable canopy management helped prevent them from suffering any adverse impact of radiant heat. He said their Banksdale vineyards were showing no signs of being affected by the heat. "We're nearly 10 per cent through, and while it's early days, when you start late it does tend to end up being a more compact year," he said. "We expect to be going through until mid-April." Mr Tilbrook said they were very happy with the way the prosecco was looking on the vine and looked forward to tasting it when it came in.

The heat is on, but harvest looking good in King Valley

Rovers’ three-peat complete

Fourth quarter ‘Pies swoop on thirds flag

Rovers reserves outlast Tigers in stunner

Allied health staff say no more band aids, it’s time to fix allied health

Most popular stories

Rovers’ three-peat complete

Fourth quarter ‘Pies swoop on thirds flag

Rovers reserves outlast Tigers in stunner

Allied health staff say no more band aids, it’s time to fix allied health