Vintage is Fast Approaching

The changeable weather over the spring and summer has resulted in a challenging year in the vineyard. Steve has acknowledged that the 2025-2026 growing season has been one of the toughest and driest season in years, with the extremely warm and dry summer conditions very reminiscent of the 2009 vintage.

The warm and dry conditions have resulted in an increase in the workload in the vineyard. Steve has been working extra hard to ensure that the fruit is in optimum condition to produce outstanding wine. As usual for this time of year, the vines are covered by nets. Netting is a cautionary procedure that aims to prevent birds feeding on the berries. This resulting damage to the fruit can lead to spoilage problems, such as bunch rot.

The warm and dry conditions can stress the vines during the growing season, so Steve has put in a lot of effort to reduce the amount of fruit on the vine. This has meant removing bunches of fruit, a process sometimes called ‘green-harvesting’ or ‘bunch thinning’. Bunch thinning not only intentionally reduces yield, but is important for maintaining the balance between growth and fruit quality within the vine. With a reduction in the amount of fruit, the vine can then put all its energy into what remains, producing fruit with ideal flavour and ripeness.

At this stage it is predicted that we will be picking at the beginning of March, a more usual time for us to begin harvest. According to Steve, the outstanding varietals are sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon and merlot. The cabernet franc has also withstood the weather and looks particularly fabulous. However, given how changeable the growing season has been, we are ready to pick as soon as the fruit attains optimum flavour and ripeness.