The success of 2015 is down to the lower than normal crops which provided great concentration and maximized the effect of the dry and warm mid-summer. The good fortune of well-timed weather when we wanted it outweighed any concerns from a cool start to the spring or a few late-season autumn showers. The charm of 2015 is already evident in the wines and will prove the lasting testament of our third successive high-quality vintage.

White grapes had lovely flavour in the vineyard and this has flowed through to the young wines. They are fresh and full of fruit.

Red grapes benefitted from a long, mostly dry and warm growing season. Small crops produced wines with concentration and dark colours.  Tannins and flavours are ripe, and lively acids will keep the wines fresh in youth and maturity.

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Spring of 2013 was unusually dry and mild leading to budburst a good two weeks early.October was warm and dry with half the normal rainfall and November continued to be very warm with six days over 25 degrees and one at almost 30 degrees – summer temperatures! The early trend continued with Chardonnay flowering in full swing on the 13^th compared with the usual first week of December. Flowering went well in all varieties. By late November soils were beginning to dry out although 70mm of rain on the 26^th and 29^th replaced soil moisture keeping the vines happy.

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Spring of 2012 was cool and very dry. November warmed up nicely, with many days around 25 degrees. By late November, there were signs of things to come. Grass on the hillsides and the drier parts of vineyards began to die off early, due to less than half the normal rain falling over the three months of Spring. December was warmer again, with eight days into the 30s, and again, less than half the usual rainfall. The timing of flowering was normal, starting with chardonnay late November and finishing in red varieties mid December. Drier vineyards were receiving some irrigation early in December.

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Spring was drier and cooler than usual, delaying bud break and subsequent vine growth by about two weeks. The rest of the spring, and until late March, temperatures were mild to warm, with no rain to speak of. Rain forecast for late March and early April kept us focused on picking and we finished our white grapes on 1 April – the shortest harvesting period for white grapes!

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It has been a real roller coaster ride to coin a phrase but we have smiles on our faces. After being spoiled for settled, warm, dry, vintage conditions for most of the last 10 years we finally got some weather in 2011. November was very dry with only 20 mm of rain and December below average at 50mm. The many overcast days and cloudy nights gave us average temperatures but the bonus of no frosts.

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