Vintage 2016 Wrap Up

Vintage 2016 has officially wrapped up, so what can we say? It was fast, it was furious and it was full on, but as always it was a lot of fun!

We had warm, dry weather over spring last year which meant fruit set was good and yields were up. This continued into summer which helped ripen the fruit a little earlier than expected, but it still retained classic, even flavours across both red and white varieties. There was some decent rainfall throughout January which kept the vines refreshed, and the cooler nights provided more moderate ripening conditions, although this will be one of the earliest vintages on record. At this stage whites are showing delicate but intense flavours and pleasingly good natural acidity. The reds have strong colours and rich flavours, with some excellent varietal definition on our BMG Durif. Over the coming months we will finalise the white and sparkling blends and get them ready for release later this year and leave the reds to mature slowly, developing flavour from oak and extracting tannin.