2025 Vintage is Close at Hand

The continually changing weather through the end of last year and in January this year has resulted in the vintage so far being best classified as challenging. However, with comprehensive planning, and a large amount of hard work, things are looking very promising in the vineyard and hopefully the harvest will be excellent.

The conditions in spring 2024 were dry and warm which led to an early budburst and plentiful vine growth. Budburst occurs as the vine leaves the dormancy of winter and marks the emergence of new leaf growth. As spring progressed, regular rainfall and warm temperatures meant the vines grew rapidly and quickly progressed toward an early flowering. The negative aspect of the warm temperatures and increased rainfall is a rise in the chance of disease – both downy and powdery mildew. However, prompt work by Viticulturalist Steve Sadlier averted the crisis and the vines emerged healthy.

The combination of warm days followed by rainfall meant that the vines grew quickly and progressed rapidly toward flowering. Flowering would normally occur in mid-November but this vintage, it was around two weeks early. As November advanced, the weather changed, the rain stopped and the vineyard began to dry out, which resulted in an excellent fruit set. With most of the flowers being able to convert to berries, most of the vines developed a large amount of fruit. This has kept Steve and vineyard crew busy undertaking bunch thinning – removing bunches of berries to reduce the crop load and the yield. This reduction in quantity improves the overall quality of the remaining fruit.

As the year moves to February, we have one nervous eye on the weather and one eye continually on the vineyard. The warm weather has elevated the ripeness in the fruit, and it appears that we will begin picking soon. At the moment Steve is very happy with the Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, as both are looking balanced with great flavour and balance. The Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc appear to ripening nicely and but still have a few weeks till they are picked.

Chardonnay grapes almost ready to be picked