Vintage Report

2011 Vintage

The 2011 vintage is looking really interesting. I will admit that we were trepidations about this vintage, since it was the driest winter on record. The humid weather in January & February was unusual and also that the temperature didn’t get above 39C, though it was consistently very warm, though there were no disease or heat stress issues.

All our fruit is hand-picked, we started with the Sparkling base on Sunday 15 Jan and then progressed through to various batches of chardonnay, from different areas around the vineyard and the Verdelho on Australia Day (check out the video on our Facebook page.)

The Verdelho looked very passionfruity with a lovely limey finish, it may be a bit lighter than the last couple of years, more like the 2008.

The red grapes matured closer to the average time, producing good colour and flavour.

The Merlot was the first red to ripen, had very small berries and a very low yield which resulted in exceptional colour and concentration.

Conditions were optimum for full bodied fruit and the Shiraz looks consistent with the typical (i.e. excellent) quality of Upper Reach shiraz.

This year the new Petit Verdot block has produced a sufficient quantity of fruit to make a decent batch of wine (though we will release a very small quantity from 2009 in Winter 2011)

We’ve bought in some Grenache from 50 year old Swan Valley unirrigated vines, this is a first for us and our intention is to blend it with shiraz for our Gig wine. The Tempranillo also looked excellent, there were great smells coming off the ferment.

 

2010 Vintage

2010 vintage started a week or so earlier than usual, with some of the whites. Then the weather eased off and the ripening process slowed down, which means that we ought to have a lot of different fruit flavours in the 2010 whites.

Its also made everything a lot easier logistically, as we were able to really concentrate and focus on each batch of wine, as the next would be picked a couple of days later, rather than immediately!

After the hot weekend (16 & 17 Jan), everything has ripened up a bit quicker than we expected! Derek tested the fruit on Monday (18 Jan) and let us all know that 'it's starting'... so the first pick was Thursday 21 Jan, we picked the Chardonnay fruit for the Sparkling Wine, and it's got great flavour!

First crush of the 2010 vintage, Friday 22 Jan, easily a week earlier than last year.

We tested the Verdelho juice which tasted fantastic.
Wine is really just fermented grape juice, so as the juice is full of flavour it suggests that the wine will too!

The red grapes were picked during and after another hot week. Though the vines do struggle with the heat, our main concern is how the fruit tastes, the red fruit has more intense flavours and great colour we pressed the last batch of shiraz fruit this week.

So now Derek & James are busy in the winery messing around with barrels, filling them up with the 2010 reds and deciding on final blends for the 2009 red wines.
They decide exactly what batches of wine and which barrels will get included in which wine, this is one of the real wine making skills that can get forgotten about.

It's exciting for us at the cellar door, as finally we can be fairly confident about what wine we'll be selling in the future, but also they do keep bringing us little samples to try!

2009 Vintage

I thought 2009 would be a great year for the Swan Valley and those that know hailed 2009 as one of WA's finest.

We, in the Swan Valley, in common with the rest of the state had quite mild growing conditions, the heat didn't hit us until post Christmas, and then it was humid heat, which is better for the vines that dry heat (but harder for us West Australians to cope with, as people). "Reds were sensational and the whites not far behind" John Griffiths: President of WA Wine Industry

Also winter 2008 was nice and wet, this coupled with the river breaking its banks, and flowing through the vineyard for a couple of weeks, meant that we started with properly drenched soil... we haven't had that for a few years!

We picked for the Sparkling Chardonnay base on Tuesday 27 Jan, the Verdelho was picked Tuesday 3rd and Thursday 5th February. The fruit to go into the Unwooded Chardonnay was picked on Tuesday 10th and Thursday 12th February.

The red grapes ripened up steadily and were picked during March. The juice showed great colour and rich, full fruit flavours, it looks as though 2009 might be the year for Swan Valley Reds, even better than 2008!

2008 Vintage

We've just pressed the last of the 2008 fruit today (24 March) so Derek & Peter are celebrating!

The first pick was the chardonnay for the Sparkling on 23rd January, so it feels like its been a long vintage this year.

It was warm, hence the Sparkling fruit being picked about 2 weeks early, the Chardonnay and especially the Verdelho are looking great and we hope to have them bottled mid May.

The Shiraz has great depth of colour and rich fruit, so we ought to be able to make a worthy successor to our previous Trophy Winning efforts. The Cabernet Sauvignon is a little lighter than in previous years.

2007 Vintage

Drought conditions and high temperatures have reduced the grape yields, however the fruit ripened about three weeks early, catching us, not quite on the hop but it was a surprise! Overall the wines look as though they'll be more powerful, full-bodied and longer living than normal.

The whites are softer but vibrant and bursting with strong varietal aromas and flavours.

The reds will stand out in 2007; they are very deep in colour, with bold flavours and great depth.

The only issue will be having enough of everything, as yields were down by 40%, but what there is, is very good indeed.