OTHER ATTRIBUTES

Bird Damage

While much of the area is flat coastal plain, largely cleared for dairying, the lower slopes of the escarpment and other upland areas are heavily wooded and provide a favourable habitat for a wide variety of bird life. These include species for which the grape is a food source such as Silver Eye (seed eaters), Friar Bird (fruit eaters), Currawong (fruit eaters – including green, unripened grapes). Local Cockatoos are also known to attack young vines, or ripening fruit, often with destructive effect.

Losses due to birds can be as high as 15% and most growers employ netting for periods from just prior to veraison through to harvest.

Grape Vine Diseases

Other than bird depredation the major viticultural problems faced by growers in the Shoalhaven-Illawarra are humidity-related diseases such as downy and powdery mildews and botrytis. Mildew presents a significant problem that requires frequent spraying to effect control. Botrytis is generally only a problem when higher-than-normal rain falls close to vintage.

The seriousness of the mildew problem has lead to Chambourcin being the most common red variety planted in the area in recent years, representing more than 30% of all red varietal plantings. Chambourcin has the advantage of being resistant to mildews and moderately resistant to botrytis.

Similarly Verdelho, which, due a thicker skin, is moderately resistant to botrytis, is being increasingly planted in the region.

Regional Wine Characteristics

The main red and white varietals currently grown in the Shoalhaven Coast Region are Chambourcin and Chardonnay respectively. The Chambourcin is popular with vignerons both for its fungus resistance and its versatility. It is also unusual in that its flesh is highly flavoured and red to purple in colour. This gives significant flexibility to the winemaker in that the wine does not need to be left on the skins to develop flavour or colour. If the skins are utilised both colour and flavour are intensified. As a consequence the grape is most versatile and range of light to full bodied red table wines, and port, are all produced from this variety.

All variations of Chambourcin table wine are characterised by their deep purple – red colour, intense berry fruit nose and palate, high acidity and low tannin. The fuller-bodied style is typically described as “chocolatey”

Chardonnay wines from the region, which include a gold medal winner at the Canberra National Wine Show, are typically full bodied with strong melon and citrus flavours and frequently described as “toasty.

Verdelho is rapidly overtaking Chardonnay as the most important white variety, due to its resistance to botrytis. Medal-winning wines are already being produced, with “lifted tropical fruit and lime flavours” and “zesty” being characteristics most often recorded for these wines.

There is a growing practice among wine writers to refer to Chambourcin and Verdelho as the “typical”, or “characteristic” varietal wines of the Shoalhaven Coast Region.