We tasted the 2010 whites :  Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Viognier,  two days ago and what a relief.  The vintage has been so challenging with early warm weather in November accelerating ripening, and then heavy rain in early February bringing on bunch rots.  We were forced to be extremely selective in picking only the cleaner bunches, and them working hard on the sorting table to see that everything that got into the press was 100% free of mould.  The only exception was in the Pinot Gris, where a tiny bit of botrytis can add a little complexity.  However, even here, we discarded about 5% of the crop.  Because of the discards and  because we are tending to sell out earlier than we would like, we  'looked over the fence'  so to speak and brought in some lovely fruit from  our next door  neighbour at Lake George, some from 40 year-old vines.
 
The results prove that adversity can sometimes be the ally of excellence.  The wines are lovely, with levels of varietal aromatics that we have not seen before. We cannot wait to get them into the bottle and let them settle down. Except of course for the Chardonnay which is looking forward to an 11 month sojourn in oak interrupted by fortnightly lees stirring.  When it emerges ,  it should be at least the equal of the 2006, our multi-award winner that has beaten almost all of Australia's top Chardonnays in different shows.
 
There is also rather a lot of botrytis Pinot Gris, but since this required extensive settling and racking to clean up the slightly excessive botrytis character, it is still fermenting and won't be ready for evaluation for a few months - around the time of the Fireside Festival master class we hope.  See the full Fireside program here...
 
The reds are less straightforward.  Quantities are down slightly due to the need for rigorous culling to eliminate every last vestige of bunch rot.  However, once again we obtained some very promising fruit from  our next door neighbour's vineyard.  Overall the vintage was very early ,  with picking almost done by mid-April  -  still later than most of Australia, but much earlier than in the past when we have been picking in May, and in 2005, in June. What effect this acceleration in ripening will have on wine quality  is   hard to tell at this stage.  We should have a better idea by July.  Our guess is that the wines will be a little lighter than 2008/09, and certainly lower in alcohol than the 2005 and 2006 vintages.  None of this is necessarily a bad thing and it could be quite good.  Certainly, there is no evidence of premature ageing due to the problems caused by the rain , which is testimony to the unwavering attention to detail of the sorting table crews, braving bee stings and bad backs to keep the fruit clean.
 
I will keep you posted!
 
Jim Lumbers
Proprietor