SAUVIGNON BLANC & SHIRAZ VARIETAL STUDY 2004 - 2007 FINAL REPORT SEPTEMBER 2007 REPORT PREPARED BY: DAVIDSON VITICULTURAL CONSULTING SERVICES Varietal Benchmarking Study Final report S a u v i g n o n B l a n c & S h i r a z TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................................................................................... -5 - 1.0 BACKGROUND TO PROJECT................................................................................................... -6 - 2.0 LOCATION OF PROJECT VINEYARDS.................................................................................... -6 - 3.0 METHODOLOGY....................................................................................................................... -7 - 3.1 Major assessment details ....................................................................................................... -7 - 3.2 Minor assessment details ....................................................................................................... -8 - 3.3 Data collection and analysis overview.................................................................................... -8 - 4.0 SAUVIGNON BLANC.................................................................................................................. -9 - 4.1 MANAGEMENT PRACTICES............................................................................................. -9 - 4.1.1 Forreston.................................................................................................................... -9 - 4.1.2 Lobethal................................................................................................................... -11 - 4.1.3 Lenswood................................................................................................................. -12 - 4.1.4 Balhannah................................................................................................................ -13 - 4.1.5 Meadows.................................................................................................................. -14 - 4.1.6 Kuitpo ...................................................................................................................... -15 - 4.2 VITICULTURAL OVERVIEW OF SAUVIGNON BLANC PROJECT SITES...................... -16 - 4.2.1 Soil .......................................................................................................................... -16 - 4.2.2 Canopy management................................................................................................. -17 - 4.2.3 Climate .................................................................................................................... -17 - 4.2.4. Maximum, Minimum and Mean temperatures............................................................ -18 - 4.2.5 Average Daily bedd per month ................................................................................... -19 - 4.3 SEASONAL COMPARISONS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS..................................... -21 - 4.3.1 Forreston.................................................................................................................. -21 - 4.3.2 Lobethal................................................................................................................... -22 - 4.3.3 Balhannah................................................................................................................ -23 - 4.3.4 Lenswood................................................................................................................. -24 - 4.3.5 Meadows.................................................................................................................. -25 - 4.3.6 Kuitpo ...................................................................................................................... -26 - 4.4 SAUVIGNON BLANC KEY COMPARISONS AND DISCUSSION.................................... -27 - 4.4.1 Sauvignon Blanc mean internode lengths .................................................................... -27 - 4.4.2 Sauvignon Blanc mean count to non-count shoot comparisons ..................................... -28 - 4.4.3 Sauvignon Blanc mean Leaf Layer Number at veraison and harvest ............................. -29 - 4.4.4 Sauvignon Blanc nodes retained at pruning and percentage budburst ............................ -30 - 4.4.5 Sauvignon Blanc vine yield and bunch weight comparisons ......................................... -31 - 4.4.6 Sauvignon Blanc shoot length summary at flowering................................................... -32 - 4.4.7 Sauvignon Blanc shoot length summary at veraison .................................................... -33 - Adelaide Hills Wine Region Inc. 2007 2 Varietal Benchmarking Study Final report S a u v i g n o n B l a n c & S h i r a z 5.0 SHIRAZ................................................................................................................................... -34 - 5.1 MANAGEMENT PRACTICES........................................................................................... -34 - 5.1.1 Forreston.................................................................................................................. -34 - 5.1.2 Lobethal................................................................................................................... -35 - 5.1.3 Balhannah................................................................................................................ -36 - 5.1.4 Meadows.................................................................................................................. -37 - 5.1.5 Kuitpo ...................................................................................................................... -38 - 5.2 VITICULTURAL OVERVIEW OF SHIRAZ PROJECT SITES ........................................... -39 - 5.2.1 Soil .......................................................................................................................... -39 - 5.2.2 Canopy management................................................................................................. -40 - 5.2.3 Climate .................................................................................................................... -40 - 5.3 SEASONAL COMPARISONS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS..................................... -41 - 5.3.1 Forreston.................................................................................................................. -41 - 5.3.2 Lobethal................................................................................................................... -42 - 5.3.3 Balhannah................................................................................................................ -43 - 5.3.4 Meadows.................................................................................................................. - 44 - 5.3.5 Kuitpo ...................................................................................................................... -45 - 5.4 SHIRAZ KEY COMPARISONS AND DISCUSSION.......................................................... -46 - 5.4.1 Shiraz mean seasonal internode lengths ...................................................................... -46 - 5.4.2 Shiraz nodes retained at pruning and percentage budburst............................................ -47 - 5.4.3 Shiraz mean Leaf Layer Number at veraison and harvest............................................. -48 - 5.4.4 Shiraz mean vine yield and individual bunch weight comparison ................................. -49 - 5.4.5 Kuitpo Shoot length at flowering ............................................................................... -50 - 5.4.6 Kuitpo Shoot length at veraison ................................................................................. -51 - APPENDIX 1 .........................................................................................................................................52 1.1 Vineyard locations ...................................................................................................................52 APPENDIX 2 .........................................................................................................................................53 2.1 Sauvignon Blanc Forreston raw data .........................................................................................53 2.2 Sauvignon Blanc Lobethal raw data ..........................................................................................54 2.3 Sauvignon Blanc Lenswood raw data........................................................................................55 2.4 Sauvignon Blanc Balhannah raw data .......................................................................................56 2.5 Sauvignon Blanc Meadows raw data.........................................................................................57 2.6 Sauvignon Blanc Kuitpo raw data.............................................................................................58 2.7 Sauvignon Blanc combined shoot length summary.....................................................................59 APPENDIX 3 ........................................................................................................................................60 3.1 Shiraz Forreston raw data.........................................................................................................60 3.2 Shiraz Lobethal raw data..........................................................................................................61