Collection: 2011
Whilst the average summer temperature was slightly lower than the long-term average it was almost 2 degrees cooler (21C) than last year. The flowering period in December was particularly cool. There were only 2 days during summer where the temperature exceeded 30C.
Whilst wetter than the previous year, our summer rainfall matched the long- term average of about 145mm. There were more wet days (43) than last year (21) and as a consequence, on average there were 2 hours less sunshine per day than the previous summer. Similarly, autumn was cooler and wetter than last year, with almost 200mm of rain falling in autumn, including a large fall during vintage in early April.
This helps explain why the grapes were much slower to ripen and accumulate sugars this year.
The Chardonnay was picked on 20 March for sparkling, the Riesling on 10 April and the Pinot noir on 20 April.
