The heat returns
Factor 30 for grapes?
The Yarra Valley, Victoria
Temperatures over 40C are set to return to parts of South Australia and Victoria again today and tomorrow, no doubt causing further damage to wine grapes already frazzled by days of continual high temperatures last week.
Some are fortunate enough to have already harvested their crop (eg parts of the Barossa), but others - especially those who did not have access to water - have lost part or even all of this year's vintage. Spare a thought for Lazzar's near Balnarring, in the lower-lying and hence hotter areas of the Mornington Peninsula, who have lost the lot.
What happened was that the vines shed their leaves, in an attempt to survive - as is also happening with the plane trees in the streets of Melbourne adn Adelaide. An early autumn may be the best strategy for the plants, but it has left grapes exposed to the sun, and like us they get sunburn.
Fewer leaves also mean less ability to ripen those that are not burnt, or turned to raisins.
So, perhaps the anticipated grape/wine glut of 2009 is not going to happen, after all. It is expected that about 20% of this year's crop has been lost across the board, but with some regions affected worse than others. The impact on individual vineyards has been varied, too; those with east-facing slopes or rows running east-west have been less affected than those facing north or north-west, into the baking afternoon sun.
Spare a thought too for our wildlife, who don't have access to airconditioning or even much water in this current drought. Reports of hundreds of possums lying on the ground, dead from heat stresss, are unexaggerated; goodness knows what has happened to smaller creatures even less able to stay cool.
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