Tasmanian Pinot Noir research gathers pace

摘要

Growing Pinot Noir in Tasmania may not have the consistency and rehabihty that many other regions of Australia manage to achieve each vintage, but industry players there will tell you that they receive plenty of welcome compensation in return. The variety has a ready capacity to build fruit intensity while retaining balancing acidity during the long, dry "Indian summers' that are now characteristic of autumn on the island. Even so, vineyard operators continually agonise over their annual picking decisions. Show them unfavourable forecasts of cool, cloudy, drizzly weather and those located on the most marginal sites soon begin to doubt their chances of achieving optimum ripeness in their precious Pinot Noir. Here, picking earlier rather than later can develop its own special virtues. Large jdelds, high vigour, poor vine health, late-ripening clones, diseased fruit and virus-affected vineyard stock are all understood to delay harvest and compromise premium sparkling and table wine production.