The 2014 vintage saw Mother Nature remind us of all her powers!!! Spring was unusually cool, particularly around flowering, which resulted in an uneven fruit set and lower cropping levels. We then suffered an incredibly severe frost on the 16th October, which resulted in a 40% loss in total production for the vintage, with some blocks only producing 10% of their normal production. November and December were relatively mild, before January saw the onset of 2 heatwaves one week apart, with temperatures soaring to 45°C for several days. This saw sugar levels rapidly increase in early ripening blocks and kicked vintage off with another early start. February was surprisingly cooler, with maximum temperatures struggling to hit 30°C, which then saw ripening slow down for a couple of weeks.
March remained mild, but was dotted with a few small rain events throughout the month, which was then followed up by a severe 100mm rain event on the 9th and 10th April. This last rain event forced our hand, and we picked the last blocks of Cabernet Sauvignon and Muscadelle to beat the rain.
Overall, the white wine quality is outstanding, with all the white varietals showing lovely delicacy, purity of fruit flavour, length and balance. The red wines have terrific elegance, with strong varietal characters and lovely long tannins. The earlier ripening fortified varieties, including Muscat and some of the Portuguese varieties for our port styles all performed well, while our Muscadelle pick was a little earlier than our preference due to the late rain.
