A “fast and furious” grape harvest in Orange has put a bow on what has been one of the best seasons in recent years, say local winemakers.

The perfect combination of dry and wet conditions at the right time, mixed with early flowering, made for a “very good vintage”,  assistant winemaker at Phillip Shaw, Arturo Longhini said.

“It was quite different from previous years… it started with the quite warm winter we had,” Arturo said. 

Many local winemakers have declared the 2024 vintage as being one of the best in over five years.

Arturo said this was especially the case for the red wine varieties 

“The reds have been affected in the past from hail, smoke, rain as well, coming in at the wrong moment,” Arturo said. “This year we were pretty happy with all of them.”

That’s not to say that hail wasn’t a problem this season. The wild storm that dropped golf ball-sized hailstones across Orange and the Central West on Christmas Day did take a toll.

“In one particular vineyard… 25 to 30 per cent of the crop was damaged. Not the best results,” Arturo said. 

ChaLou Wines on the eastern side of Orange was one of the fortunate vineyards that missed seeing any hail at Christmas.

But heading into the growing season, ChaLou co-founder and winemaker Nadja Wallington said it wasn’t looking so positive.

“We really thought we were going into a drought,” Nadja explained. “It was hot, and it was dry, and we had an early bud burst. And then it really cooled off over Christmas, so we thought it was slowing things down a bit.

“But then things really started to ripen and soften… So it was a beautiful ripening part of the growing season.”

At ChaLou, they began picking grapes at the end of January, almost a month earlier than usual and wrapped up the harvest by the end of March.

Nadja said while this year's harvest was a lot more manageable, it’s not uncommon for each year to throw a different hurdle. 

“Agriculture is always sort of a roller coaster each year. It gives you different things,” she said.

“Now we've had some pretty cool, wet years in the last couple of seasons, this season has had a bit more heat than previously. And it was a little bit drier. So from a viticultural point of view, it was easier to navigate in some ways. Very few and different challenges, but it was a fantastic season, albeit fast and furious.”

For Nadja and husband and co-winemaker Steve Mobbs, the fact this year’s harvest came early was perfect timing.

“It was a different one for me, because I was very pregnant during the season,” Nadja explained.

“So if it had been any of the other seasons that we’ve had, she would have arrived smack bang in the middle of harvest. But, because we were shifted that month earlier, she sort of came on the tail end of the vintage, so she did well!”