VINTAGE UPDATE – 2018

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Vintage 2018 is shaping up to be an exceptional one so far, with below-average to average yields giving us a good cue of the quality level. The hand-picked fruit that is coming into the winery in the cool of the morning is clean and disease free, meaning that less hand-sorting is necessary at the sorting table.

While January and February have both been much warmer than average, curiously this has not sped up ripening, even despite the early Easter. The timing of fruit coming in will be affected by this, not quality, so we are expecting to be very busy over the next few months as the harvest becomes more and more compressed!

Our white varieties are showing great purity in aroma and flavour; the clean fruit being a result of little to no vine stress through the mild weather and wet spring.

While our red varieties are yet to be picked, the quality of the vintage is looking extremely high, thanks to some crop thinning through veraison to ensure this remains consistent.

We are looking to be finished by the end of April as the Indian summer continues, of warm sunny days and cool nights.

– Johann Henschke, Winemaker