@Charles224
Good on you Charles, hope all is going well for you up there in the Clare Valley.
The little fellow has got plenty of spirit, when I last saw him in December last year he would repeat just about anything you said but, you couldn't have a conversation with him. Now, just 4 months later he will argue with me on things he thinks he knows more about than me! They grow up so fast now.
I agree with you, the weather Gods have been kind to the vintage pickers but, I don't think it is going to be one of the better vintages Charles.
Historically the best are always the drought vintages! Because of the stress the vines suffer in a drought year, the fruit yield is a lot less but, the flavour has more intensity to make up for it.
If you go back over the decades the drought vintages, 93, 97, 20, 08 are always the ones most sought after. This season was a problem Charles because of all the rain we had in Nov and Dec last year when the fruit was setting. Sure it's been dry since but, the harvest got the water it needed when it most needed it.
So you are right, it's going to be a bumper harvest for quantity, but I don't think it is going to be remembered (particularly amongst red wine drinkers) as a great vintage.
We do live in a great part of the world though, don't we Charles, it's still the land of opportunity. Yesterday I came back up from the Aldinga/Pt Willunga region (where my daughter has a rental property) on the Southern Expressway with a visitor from Sydney. This person could not believe such a road existed that was free to drive on. There are no Toll roads in South Australia and yet we have one of the best road systems in the country, just hop in your car and make use of them!
And on that note, glad to see you are a fellow Honda buff. I have had such a great run out of my two, I would never buy anything else!
Cheers.......Rob