Vintage 2016 - An Avalanche of Grapes

Vintage is now over and like waking up after a heavy night on the sauce we have found ourselves wondering what happened and how we got here.

In a normal year, there is a natural order of ripening which gives us a chance to handle each batch of wine in a systematic and orderly manner.

Folks, this was no ordinary vintage. For some weird seasonal reason, call it global warming or the hand of God, each variety ripened at the same time unlike any other vintage in living memory.

Even old timers like the Octarian Charlie D’Aloisio from Yarraland Vineyard can’t recall a season like this one.. So what does this all mean? How does it affect the flavours and quality of the wine?

Even though it was a challenging time dealing with the avalanche of grapes in the winery, we think the quality is outstanding.

As always, Chardonnay and Pinot are the true stand-outs and why not? The summer was warm and there were no crazy heat waves which  meant that ripening was even, constant and acid levels were nice and high.

The heavier reds are also showing good signs with no hint of any green or herbal characters which can offend some punters.

All in all, we’re quite proud of the vintage but like the feeling after a big night out, we’re not too keen to do it again for quite some time….

Over and Out,

Mark