Vintage 2016

The 2016 vintage is almost completed as we write this newsletter and all the young wines promise good, perhaps even great quality.

For the followers of the weather we can report we experienced the full range of conditions.

After good winter rains, Spring proved to be drier and warmer than average and this prevailed through until mid-November. At this point, the rain returned and the temperatures dropped, making December cooler than November, something we don’t often see. This coincided with the flowering of Cabernet Sauvignon and a number of cool nights led to some indifferent fruit set.

During the Christmas period things returned to more like normal summer conditions until the second week of January when we had a series of wet days that delivered 110mm of rain. At this point we held our breath and hoped that our spray program had been effective and fortunately it was. We didn’t develop any rot and the fruit stayed sound. We were lucky too because most of the fruit was still quite green and firm and able to resist splitting.

We experienced some further rain in February but the vines were well acclimatised by then and this passed without incident.

Things finally got under way with Sauvignon Blanc on 8th February, roughly 2 weeks early. Yields are down 20-30% but as a measure of compensation, for all varieties it’s a good year for full flavour ripeness at lower sugar levels, so expect really bright and lively wines. In the reds and especially Cabernet Sauvignon, the smaller berries associated with the low yield have produced concentrated, powdery tannins, very much in the mould of 1995. This puts us on track to make one of our finest ever wines. We’re all doing our best to make sure we don’t stuff it up!

Helping Alex, Gina, Clare and Keith during vintage 2016 we have 3 willing assistants in Seb Mugford, Simon Nankivell and Manon Dhabit. Seb is doing his second vintage with us – he’s either a slow learner or fast forgetter! Simon is here on his industry placement as part of his 4th year in the Bachelor of Viticulture and Oenology at Adelaide University. We forgive him that he’s a Port Adelaide supporter. Manon is a

graduate of Agricultural Engineering, specialising in Viticulture and Oenology from the Bordeaux School of agronomy and also holds a National Diploma in Oenology from the University of Bordeaux and is expanding her knowledge of winemaking by coming to see how proper Cabernet Sauvignon is made. Or so we tell her.

Serendipity has dictated that our eldest son Tristan finished his 4th year Adelaide Uni vintage placement, at Petaluma, in the Adelaide Hills, in time to join us for the last half of our 2016 vintage. Soon enough to see all the Moss Wood and Ribbon Vale Cabernet Sauvignon and Ribbon Vale Merlot picked and will probably still be here long enough to be involved in all our final pressings.