May 4, 2025
2025 Vintage - the weather statistics are impressive
2025 Vintage Benefits from a Dry Autumn at Apogee’s Lebrina (Tas.) Location but We Still Don’t Know What Creates A Great Vintage
At Apogee’s location at Lebrina, and in the grape growing world, one of the best seasonal weather combinations seems to involve a wet spring followed by a dry autumn.
The bar graph shows the wide variation in late season rainfall total with the majority of years below 200 mm of rain in the late summer (January-March incl.) period. With all the scientific knowledge of grapevine physiology acquired over the last 50 years, we still don’t know exactly what produces a great vintage. Basically, it needs to be warm enough to ripen the chosen grape(s) slowly but fully with a harvest at the end of season (end of March), enough but not too much rain and lots of sunshine. The bar graph comparison shows 2025 sitting at slightly above the average of 44 mm average for this period.
Overall, the distribution of rainfall over the growing season at Apogee’s location at Lebrina is consistent and ideal with good and reliable winter rain and a summer which gets increasingly dry towards the end of ripening. This was one of the features of the local climate in Pipers Brook/ Pipers River which drew me to Tasmania in the first place and explains the relatively consistent performance of our vintages.
Within the range of seasons 2016 was a good year, 2011 was a difficult year, 2023 a great pinot noir red wine year and 2021 a great sparkling year. So apart from the extremes rainfall does not help us predict a vintage.
What about temperature? Again, too cool can be problematic. Too warm it is not yet clear.
2016 was a very good sparkling vintage despite the warmth and the very good Pinot Noir vintage was not especially warm so are we still missing something?
The latest hunch at Apogee, which is being consolidated by research in conjunction with Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, is that there is something to do with atmospheric conditions which predetermines vine behaviour. Watch this space for the update.