Similar to 2024, this was a great season for growing grapes in Orange… The temperature was ideal and it rained when we needed it. So, the vines were very healthy however they did require diligent disease management… Vine diseases love the rain.
There was one particularly angry storm in the middle of January that came with strong winds and levelled many trees around the district. Angela and I regularly cycle around the Orange airport and about half the old gum trees in that area lost large limbs or were uprooted. One row in the vineyard was completely flattened and there was a section in the middle of snapped posts which is strange as usually the outside rows cop a hammering, but the middle is protected… How did that happen? Small tornado? We were away at the time but the person staying here likened it to the sound of a cyclone.