Vintage Reports

'The conditions leading up to the 2011 vintage have been favourable as McLaren Vale experienced very mild weather during the summer. We have had some of the best rainfall within the past decade and due to these conditions natural acidity levels have been almost perfect. With the second latest start to vintage on record, the 23rd of March,  the baume levels have been lower than in past years but the extended ripening period provided intense flavours and brilliant depth of colour. The bulk of the Shiraz was harvested over one week which meant for a busy time in the winery. Due to the wet conditions during harvest we opted mostly for hand picking by dropping some of the grapes on the ground in an effort to maximize fruit quality. Though it was a vintage not without challenges, we are proud of the wines from 2011' Colin Kay

2010 was a very good vintage, great colour and expression of fruit flowers, well structured and finely balanced wines. Vintage started on the 8th of February and finished on the 24th of March. It was orderly and the weather was as we could only wish for.
The season leading to vintage, apart from a burst of heat when the Grenache and Muscat Blanc were flowering – reducing their yields, was very good.
There were useful spring and summer rains in all cases followed by nice drying breezes, fungal disease pressures were low. In February and March it was dry and mild so the grapes ripened and were picked in ideal conditions.

“In all a difficult year. A dry and warm (relatively) ’08 winter resulted in early budburst, then normal moist cool weather of spring round an early flowering gave us a poor fruit set. As subsoil moisture was non existent monitoring of irrigation and providing the vines with enough water strained all systems. It all came to a head with the extreme heat early February, water supply was restricted and some vineyards just did not carry their fruit through – it turned to raisins. The result was one of the smallest crops we’ve recorded. A tale of woe but the wines we have are good fruit driven styles with lower alcohols than we have seen for some years. How we have these elegant wines from this hard year I just don’t understand, we count our blessings.” Colin Kay.

"2008 Vintage could be summed up in 3 words - mild (growing season), early (harvest), hot (vintage heat wave). Fortunately we had completed our grape picking before the record March heat wave but sadly some growers were not as lucky as we were. The season, though early, was close to ideal with average rainfall, generally mild weather, a kind ripening period and mild picking conditions. This resulted in well coloured, flavour full fruit with good acidity and excellent grape yields. We were very pleased with the vintage grape quality and have the feeling that we were extremely fortunate that our grapes were not adversely affected by the weather. The 2008 wines are great!"
Our 2008 vintage processing included 152.14 tonnes Shiraz, 17.60 tonnes Cabernet Sauvignon, 19.15 tonnes Merlot, 8.62 tonnes Muscat Blanc (Frontignac), 13.46 tonnes Grenache, 5.57 tonnes Mataro (Mourvedre), 6.26 tonnes Viognier and 3.56 tonnes Riesling. The total grape crush was 226.36 tonnes compared to 121.13 tonnes in 2007.  Colin Kay

“An extraordinarily early low cropping season with picking commencing on the 7th February and finishing a month later on the 7th March – we had harvested all but the Mataro and Grenache by the 15th February! The Riesling grapes we sourced from Eden Valley were picked on the 9th March and it was the first time we finished vintage before Easter.
The early season was due to a warm winter and spring that led to early bud burst and flowering and the small harvest was caused mainly by the rough weather at flowering that led to a very poor fruit set resulting in small bunches and berry size. Drought was an influence but fortunately we had sufficient recycled water to keep our vines healthy allowing the grapes to ripen normally albeit early. We chose to pick at slightly lower sugar levels than usual, a decision driven by a forecast heat wave, and the grape crop was down by approximately 50%. Unfortunately this short supply will be reflected in 2009 when our red wines are released. There is no problem with the quality of the wines from 2007 vintage it’s just that there will not be as much to enjoy!”  Colin Kay