Well, are you on the edge of your seats waiting for a blog update? This is Beckaroo and I am reporting live from beautiful Kayena, Tasmania. Today is April 7, 2009. This is probably the worst Tasmanian vintage in a long time. Why do you ask? The total crop is down at least 30% or more and the grapes are having one heck of a time ripening with all the rain and cool weather. Also botrytis cinerea, a necrotrophic fungus that affects many plant species, although its most notable hosts may be wine grapes threatening a majority of the crop. In viticulture, it is commonly known as botrytis bunch rot. The fungus gives rise to two different kinds of infections on grapes. The first, grey rot, is the result of consistently wet or humid conditions, and typically results in the loss of the affected bunches. So work is limited and the harvest is probably going to wrap up fairly soon.
I am taking it day-by-day. As you can see from the picture above the work here is hard. This is a picture of me sampling the juice. It is a tough job, but somebody has to do it! Just happy to work when I can and I am even picking grapes on my days off if there are any to pick. I need a bit of improvement in the vineyard since I have already sliced open two fingers with the shears.
The winery work is keeping me fit and I am running a lot here. I ran in a women's 5 km breast cancer fundraiser in Launceston a couple weeks ago and finished 26th out of 2000+ runners/walkers. Not bad although I would have liked to place in the top 25. My time was 22:08.
I am excited to come back to the states and see my little handsome nephew Jamison. I miss everyone and will see you soon!
