If I must describe V18 in one word it would be patience. V18 started very quickly and with social media these days I started to see people in my region start to pick their fruit, as I started to think we should start too. But then I reminded myself to run my own race and question myself as to why are should we pick now. There is no disease pressure...

2018 V18 started very quickly but with no desease or weather pressure we were able to have extra hang time for all wines especially reds resulting in higher than average alcohols and ripeness. The Great Southern area will be showing great ripeness and power not often seen in our wines. Look for great floral aromas in whites, intensity and power in ...

While a later than normal start to vintage it was reminiscent of vintages 10 years ago. It has been so dry in previous years I think we all forgot what it was like to have a wet year!To give you an idea in 2015 we got 650mm and in 2016 844mm. Our average rainfall sits around 600-700mm. So far, this year we have had 136 mm. However, we were lucky no...

A dry finish to winter followed by a wet summer provided some difficulty with pest and disease pressure. Since 2007 we have had so many dry summers I think we all forgot how wet the Great Southern can be. Those with experience and a good up to date viticulture program were able to overcome these difficulties and produce a solid vintage of fine frui...

If there was a theme for this year's vintage it would be 'no, I'm not picking any grapes unless it's a long weekend and there is a festival!'Vintage began in last week of February when we picked all our whites just before the March Long Weekend and the annual Great Southern Taste Festival. Tonnage was down 50% for our Chardonnay (12.8 baume) and Mu...

On the last day of picking I thought to myself "if I never saw another bee again I would be happy!"Before everyone complains about that comment- let me explain.It has been a dry year- so dry. There's is no blossom on trees and the birds and the bees are hungry. When we were handpicking a few rows I went out to pick the bins up, it was like picking ...

There are very few times we start vintage before the March Long weekend. Only once before in 2007 we started vintage on the 14th Feb. I remember this because I was in Tasmania on my honeymoon when I got the phone call that they were starting vintage without me!This year we started on Wednesday the 20th February picking the Chardonnay and Muller. Th...

Summer rains in December caused some concerns for vineyards however our dry grown vineyard thrived with the moisture. The vine growth has been amazing compared with previous dry years. Many other vineyards struggled to remain disease free. While it caused extra work for us, we were able to maintain canopy management and keep the vineyard disease fr...

Because of the very dry year Vintage started early, thankfully we got 30mm in December otherwise we'd be carting water to the winery as our water tanks would have been empty. It's been such a weird year with all the disasters in the Eastern States- floods and bush fires, all WA vineyard stocks of sulphur, copper and fungicides were shipped over eas...

Vintage, in wine-making, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product. A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year.In wine produced on the colder limits of wine production, vintage is often very important, because some seasons will be much warmer and produc...

Once again I find myself gazing out on a dampen vineyard. Leaves clinging on for dear life, and the latest vintage resting in tank and barrel.This year's vintage again was subjected to the weather gods, and an earlier onset of ripening brought us more in line with the vintage of 2008. Like last year we began with the Semillon from the warmer climes...

As much needed rain begins to replenish some very thirsty vines, it is a good time to take stock of our vintage thus far, and assess what we have in tank, in barrel and hopefully, soon in bottle!The 2009 vintage began, as usual, with the intake of white fruit. Semillon. However this year we were a week later than in 2008. What's more interesting, i...