Ararat’s geography has helped its vines to escape the late season frosts that afflicted parts of the Grampians wine region last year.
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Recent warm weather has also helped to spur on the harvest.
Montara Wines winemaker Simon Fennell said his harvest had been “pretty good”.
“We’ve had it a lot earlier start to the season than normal, so grapes are ripening much earlier in the warm days in the lead up to harvest.
“The flavours have certainly come on earlier and has brought our harvest forwards, on the average.”
Mr Fennell said his winery, in the hills south of Ararat, had escaped much of the devastation that extremely late season frosts had brought to lower-lying vineyards in the region last year.
“We have had pretty good yields here at the Montara site,” he said
“There has been frost in the region we missed the frost but due to our hilly aspect, we are sort of immune from frost here,
“I’d say average crops, not above average, but the quality is really, really good.”
Grampians Estate owner Tom Guthrie said his winery was on the path to recovery after suffering a “destructive” frost.
“We have been able to source some replacement Shiraz grapes from generous owners in the Grampians region,” he said.
“We’ve taken a hit in as we had to buy a lot of grapes rather than grow them, but we should have a normal output.
“We’re hoping for a kinder season next year.”
Factors a lot further from home could also benefit the Grampians and Pyrenees wine regions.
Official figures from industry body Wine Australia showed Mainland China’s import’s increased by 63 per cent last year.
Mr Fennell said most wineries were aiming to grab their own slice of the newly wealthy Chinese market.
“Everyone hangs their hat on China these days as it’s a massive growing middle class and we’ve got a foot in the door,” he said.
The increasing numbers of tourists travelling to the Grampians National Park was also helping sales.