Sparkling vintage predicted for Jacob's Creek

Jacob's Creek is predicting a sparkling vintage after picking its first fruit for 2017 this week.

On Tuesday, January 31, picking commenced in Murray Darling, with the Riverland following on Wednesday.

“The 2017 growing season saw an extremely wet winter and cooler spring and summer seasonal temperatures, meaning a later commencement to harvest this year. The below average temperatures and above average rainfall has delivered healthy and strong vine growth with fruit that looks fantastic for the vintage ahead.” says Ben Bryant, of his first vintage as Chief Winemaker at Jacob's Creek.

Jacob's Creek notes the wetter conditions have resulted in excellent conditions, particularly for whites, with above average rain towards the end of 2016 creating a bountiful fruit crop.  The wetter growing season has seen more balanced canopies ensuring the fruit is growing in pristine conditions.  

“We are expecting great results from this vintage. Ripening has been slow, meaning that flavor development and vine balance is optimum," says Ben.

”Our first crush occurred in the Murray Darling and then the Riverland the following day. As usual Jacob's Creek Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot Noir will be the first wine of the vintage produced.”

Wine grape growers across Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia have all reported a later vintage. The only exception is Queensland, where many wineries reporting harvest was slightly early, kicking off in early to mid-January.

Clare Valley vineyards are particularly late to harvest, falling about three weeks behind schedule because of high rainfall and cooler temperatures during September and October. 

Taylors Wines senior brand ambassador Cherry Stowman told ABC Rural its crop won't be ready for harvest until the end of February: "Normally we start around the first week of February. But the cool weather that we've had through the end of September during spring has delayed everything in terms of the development of the vines.

"Everyone's reporting in the district good yields. They're thinking it's going to be a bit of a bumper crop, which would be fantastic."