It has been a tough few years for grape growers around the globe with unpredictable and wet weather patterns, growers in Australia have not escaped this but are looking forward to a better year ahead.
The Australian grape harvest will start in late October in Queensland with the main export season starting December/ January.
“The weather has certainly been challenging in the last three years, both in Australia and around the world,” said Jeff Scott, Chief Executive at the Australian Table Grape Association. “In Australia we had a lot of rain and also humidity which is unusual for our main growing regions this affected the maturity, colour and sometimes the sweetness of the grapes. There was also no acid so while the grapes tasted nice, they were also a bit bland.”
But Jeff is more optimistic about this season as the weather has been absolutely perfect, very cold, chilly winter nights and perfect sunshine days.
“The spring weather has been perfect; bud burst has already happened and we are expecting some nice hot weather with cool nights which is perfect for growing grapes. It is too early to predict volumes but a lot of people are saying bud burst has been very even which is a great sign for a good yield across the varieties.”
Australia has access into markets across the world and are trying to get access for additional varieties into Japan and improve their USA protocol. “The governments are talking to each other and we are hoping to improve those markets in the next few years,” concludes Jeff.
For more information:
Jeff Scott
ATGA
Tel: +61 417 122 086
Email: [email protected]