Cafe and Cellar Door
Wed - Sun: 10am - 5pm
Public Holiday: 12pm - 4pm

Restaurant - Lunch
Wed - Sat: 11am - 3pm
Sun 12pm: - 3pm
Public Holiday: 12pm - 2.30pm

Restaurant - Dinner
Fri - Sat: 6pm - 11pm

8691 West Swan Road
Henley Brook WA 6055
Tel: 9296 3444
Fax: 9296 3555
Vintage Report 2010

Friday, 10th Sep 2010
In some ways vintage 2010 was a story of the birds and the bees! Before we get to that I’m happy to declare this vintage as being another ripper.

Western Australia has experienced four good vintages in a row. Each one has been slightly different, presenting individual challenges, but climatically it has all come together to produce great fruit. Perhaps we are extra fortunate in that we have not had to deal with the problems facing other states with water restrictions, drought and fire.

My own observations of our weather patterns indicate that our spring period is becoming wetter and slightly cooler. For us in the Swan Valley this is good for quality as it leads to uneven ripening and therefore a spectrum of fruit characters in the wine from citrus (relatively low ripening) to Tropical (very ripe). It does however present a challenge in terms of managing disease in the fruit.

Since we have had this pattern for the past few years we have tailored our management approach to suit the weather. This year due to our diligence we had negligible disease outbreaks and the fruit came into the winery in pristine condition.

The down-side to a wet and cool spring is that it affects vine fruitfulness, resulting in a diminished yield. The other concern is that our late ripening red varieties won’t reach phenological ripeness which results in hard, green characters. However, in line with changing weather patterns, January onwards turned hot and dry which brought the reds into full ripeness.

The heat wave mid-January caught everyone off guard. The fruit ripeness leapt ahead by three weeks in the space of three days. I sampled the fruit one morning to discover that the early varieties were ready to pick. I didn’t believe the results thinking I must have sampled incorrectly but the second and subsequent third samples produced the same results. So I went from “Yeah, we’ll be picking in two to three weeks” to “Holy….! We’re picking tomorrow.” My phone rang hot as I assembled the troops and fortunately I already had the winery 90% ready to receive the first parcel.

This is where the birds and the bees enter the scene. The first pick was our Verdelho and over the course of the morning I started to encounter more and more bees. Okay this is not uncommon as they are attracted to the sugar in the fruit and berries get broken during the pick but there did appear to be more than usual.

Now I’ve never had a problem with bees before having been stung many times without reaction so they don’t bother me. If a bee lands on me I’ll pick it up and send it off. However, towards the end of the day I got stung twice in less than thirty seconds on my ribs and shoulder. Within 30 minutes I had swollen up badly at the sting sights and I had Hives under my armpits (lymph nodes) and my throat was going numb. The day ended with me at the doctor surgery.

During vintage there is no such thing as a sick day. You’re either dead or at work. So the next day, welts and all, we processed the Verdelho and attracted by the sugar along came the bees. By the end of the day there were literally hundreds of bees swarming around the winery. This time my assistant was stung on the hand. The result was not as dramatic as my sting but his hand was swollen for a week and looked very painful.

We had to adopt a new policy whereby all stems, crushed fruit etc had to be removed immediately. Usually the whole lot is dumped at the end of the day. I still don’t know what caused the bee problem but I have a suspicion that the birds had something to do with it!

It has been widely reported that Perth and WA has problem with pest birds, in particular Rainbow Lorikeets. Whilst they are very pretty they are a serious problem to agriculture and the Agricultural Department is fighting an ongoing battle to cull them. The problem is that they breed in the suburbs where people refuse to let them be shot and then they head into agricultural areas and decimate crops.

My theory is that the large population of Lorikeets present in the Swan Valley, causing widespread damage to fruit, was the catalyst to attracting the bees.

Certain table grape varieties ripen long before wine grapes and so I was hearing of Lorikeet damage in early January but hadn’t observed any on our property. That was until the second week of vintage. I arrived at work just as the sun was rising one morning and a flock of Lorikeets rose out of the vineyard as I drove down the driveway.

We did what we could to keep them at bay with help from the Ag Dept but really you just chase them off your vineyard and they move to the next one, then the next one…. and back to yours. The call that they make to each other is burned into my brain. Even when I’m at home in North Perth I hear them everyday flying around. I don’t think that this problem is going anywhere soon.

So, now it’s all done and dusted the results look great. We’ve learned a few thing, had to adapt some new policies and strategies. Overall I’m very pleased. Yield was down but quality is excellent and I’m now polishing up wines that look a lot like the ones we produced in 2008 which have been highly commended. Cheers.
Vintage Report 2009
Vintage Report 2008
Vintage Report 2007 Part 2: The Winery
Vintage Report 2007 Part 1: The Vineyard


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© Chesters Restaurant
Gold Plate Winner 2006, 2008 & 2009 - Licenced Casual Dining, Tourist Restaurant, Restaurant in a Winery
Winner R+CIA Awards for Excellence 2005 - Restaurant in a Winery.
Gold Plate Finalist 2004 - 2008