Vintage 2015 / Fighting the Fungus - Results

December was a very wet month with 201mm rain falling over 16 days.
Average for that month is 83mm over 9 rain days.
Compare that to last year (the vintage of the decade) where we had 52mm over 9 rain days.
This situation did nothing to help us 'fight the fungus'.
However the results of our curative spray a few weeks ago are in.
The Pinot Noir obviously had more downy mildew in it than first estimated. The browning off of the leaves where the AgriFos 600 has done its work is considerable. However the powdery mildew on the bunches seems to have been eradicated. Thanks Mr. Bayer!
Whether this leaf loss will affect the bunch development and eventual ripening remains to be seen.
My gut feeling is we won't be harvesting this variety this season.
The Tempranillo is not much better but the remaining leaf cover may ripen the fruit enough to make it suitable for a rose'.
There is more optimism for the remaining two varieties.
Both downy and powdery mildew 'damage' appears to be minimal.
The main problem will be keeping the protective spray program up to date if the persistent wet weather continues.
Long term weather forecasts are not encouraging and so far in January that has been the case.