Prospect for great reds hots up in dry summer

But then again the whites aren't looking too bad either.

The warm, dry summer is creating near-perfect growing conditions for many of the vineyards across Northern and North-Eastern Tasmania.

Holm Oak Vineyards on the West Tamar specialises in red wine and is already celebrating the 1998 vintage.

Owner and winemaker Nicholas Butler expects this year's crop to produce reds which are "full-bodied, muscled and powerful".

"Generally El Nino years are fantastic for grapes and 1998 is going to be a terrific year for red wines. They are going to be much more concentrated, have more colour and more tannin," Mr Butler said.

But wine connoisseurs will have to wait a while to taste the results _ Holm Oak's pinot noir won't be commercially available until mid-1999 and its cabernet sauvignon won't be sloshed into glasses until the end of 2000.

Tasmanian Vineyards Association vice-president Rodney Lyne of Spring Vale Vineyards at Swansea said that the 1998 vintage for both red and white wine looked the best for at least four years. He said the warm weather reduced the problem of mildew and intensified the ultimate taste of the wine.

Geoff Hewitt of Cliff House Wines at Kayena said that he expected his chardonnay, riesling, cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir varieties to all produce good results.

Freycinet Vineyards production manager Lindy Bull also said that 1998 would be a bumper year and just enough rain had fallen last weekend to freshen up the vines. But Marion's Vineyard owner Marion Semmens said that she had been using town water to irrigate the vines and more rain was needed.