Vintage 2018 Begins

Spring is well and truly here and the early variety grapes, Tempranillo, Semillon and Pinot Noir have sprung into life.
Thankfully there must be some substantial sub soil moisture as we have had virtually no rain for months.
It has been the warmest driest winter on record.
It is already a record breaking warm spring with temperatures in the high 30s in some places.
This is a real concern as early spring is particularly windy. Combined with the high temperatures and the dry this is perfect bush fire weather.
There are 90 fires burning in the state already. The few that are around us are thankfully under control.
We are under a total fire ban here but keep an eye on the Fires Around Us app just in case.
Lightning strikes, carelessness and, sadly, arson can change the situation at any time.

We have been transferring water from our spare tanks to our home tank and are thinking about putting ourselves on restriction now as there is no rain forecast longer term.
There is a long waiting list to get a water delivery and, in any case, we don't particularly want to use chlorinated town water.
Despite the warm winter we had an inordinate number of frosts which have killed off the pasture much earlier than normal. There has been no spring regrowth due to the lack of rain so we are still feeding the cattle. Hay prices have gone through the roof due to the dry.
All in all not a good situation.