Less, but good (King Valley Vintage)

King Valley Wines CEO sees benefits in challenging vintage

Written by STEVE KELLY. - source: Wangaratta Chronicle

KING Valley Wines has finished processing a 2009 vintage two-thirds the size of last year’s production.

It processed 4000 tonnes of fruit this season after beginning on February 5, and although down on yield, company chief executive officer and chief winemaker, Garry Wall, believes it will correct an overhang of stock generated out of the 2008 vintage.

"The vineyard yields have been significantly smaller and demand out of the region has been slightly smaller as well this year," Mr Wall said.

"This is driven by bigger industry demand and supply issues after a large production and a significant overhang of stock in the industry.

"My personal belief is that this vintage will correct a lot of that overhang and certainly not add to it.

"In the longer term it will be very good for the industry that yields are up to 25 per cent below normal."

Last year was up to 25 per cent above average production, and Mr Wall said it needed to balance itself out because there were some very low prices being offered to grape growers this year.

He said almost all the grapes have been sold this year because of lower yields, an aspect that will keep the prices buoyant.

"The industry needed to take a pause after good growth over the last 10 to 15 years - it has done that - now it’s going quite well," he said.

Mr Wall said yields were down due to climatic reasons, as it was a very dry spring and there was some minor frost damage.

He said berry size has also been very small and the fruit set was not as good as last year.

"This is all weather related and it has also been very dry during the growing season," he said.

Mr Wall said it has been a reasonably spaced vintage for King Valley Wines, which takes fruit from all over the Ovens and King valleys.

"It has all worked very well this year and we’re very happy with the outcomes and the quality of the wine which has been produced," he said.

"This region is cooler, and although we did get some very high temperatures, we didn’t get the extremes suffered in South Australia or some other parts of Victoria and New South Wales.

Due to phylloxera, a pest which is very destructive to grape crops, the company processes the fruit in the region exactly the way each vigneron wants it made.

King Valley Wines has been in operation since 2000 and can process 300 tonnes of red grapes through the vinematics at a time.

It is able to achieve this production rate, as the company has spent several hundred thousand dollars over the last 12 months to upgrade equipment.

"It has got to a point (with the new equipment) where we have almost doubled the amount of white grape production over a 24 hour period," he said.

"We process for some of Australia’s wine companies and we make the wine the way they would make it in their own winery - we’re simply the arms, legs and equipment to them.

The company employed 170 people this season and it will drop to six in the off season, including a fulltime employee to maintain the equipment.