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Our Hunter harvest started later than usual (27th January) but back to normal in historical terms. After a mild and wet spring and early summer things dried up. The cooler than normal weather patterns have helped the fruit retain good natural acidity ensuring great balance and length of flavour. Good rainfall throughout last year has allowed the vines to return to normal cropping levels (after the minuscule crops of 2010). Overall a very good harvest from the Hunter Valley.
Orange experienced cool wet conditions for the whole year leading up to the very late vintage which finally finished in early May. The vineyard manager did a spectacular job to combat diseases and the quality of the grapes picked was far better than would normally have been expected. Both Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc produced well balanced elegant wine in which the Sauvignon Blanc was the best for the years. Red varieties produced lighter wines than normal but with nice clean fruit flavours and good balance.
After years of warm drought vintages, the 2011 vintage was one of the wettest and coolest on record. The highlights of the vintage were the whites, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay which both produced stylish wines with good structure and high natural acid. The reds were less impressive and produced lighter bodied wines with less colour than normal although flavours were surprisingly good.
Coonawarra experienced similar weather to Wrattonbully with high rainfall during the growing season leading to the high disease pressure. As a result, the grapes were picked early to avoid off flavours and light bodied, clean elegant styles were made. These wines will be good blenders but no Reserve wines will be made.
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