2010 Peter Lehmann Wines Vintage Report
12 April 2010
The 2010 vintage commenced on February 4 and was completed by March 26 apart from the Botrytis Semillon which hangs for a few weeks longer.
The vintage was preceded by good winter and spring rains but an unusually hot period of weather in November affected flowering in some varieties resulting in particularly small crops of Grenache and Chardonnay. Overall, the crop level is average to just below average – but quality is excellent. The combination of a short burst of heat in late January/early February and a smaller crop caused a number of varieties to ripen at the same time making 2010 a very compressed vintage.
However the weather settled down and was warm and stable throughout February and March. The white wines show excellent colour, fruit flavour and delicacy with Riesling and Semillon the early standouts. The reds show great colour and concentration with Shiraz appearing to be at the top of the pile, however Cabernet, Grenache, Merlot and Tempranillo are not far behind. It is still early days but at this stage the winemakers are very excited.
The total crush was 10,477 tonnes (2009:14,819) with 10,138 tonnes (2009: 10,982) for our own use. Over the last 16 years PLW had a contract to crush grapes on behalf of a large Australian wine producer and this mutually satisfactory arrangement came to an end when the contract was not renewed. Quite simply the lower demand for Australian wines has resulted in excess winery capacity as well as an oversupply of grapes. The cessation of this contract reduced throughput substantially and this will be reflected in higher overhead costs per litre.
