Autumn 2026 Newsletter
Well this Vintage is going to be interesting…….
We chose NOT to harvest our fruit in 2011 and 2020 as the fruit was both diseased and unripe to our standard, due to cold and wet conditions in summer and autumn.
This season has been very different but equally challenging. Winter was dry, Spring was cold and fiercely windy, Summer was insipid, dry and cloudy, and now Autumn has been classic with warm, still and some bright days but how long will it last? Chilly nights started in mid February…
The windy Spring has caused some stunting of growth and disrupted fruit set and so the yields are well down. The dryness and cool temperatures has slowed sugar accumulation which is delaying ripening.
We are at least 3 weeks behind an average year (we had started to pick last year on 11/3). We have netted some of our vines but I have written off the late varieties considering historical records we have kept. They just won’t make it before the leaves fall and sugar production ends.
Having many vintages in storage allows us to ‘smooth out’ these set back years. There is nothing more soul destroying than trying to sell wines we aren’t proud of & meet OUR standards for quality. Our brand is so important to us, and we don’t want to make excuses to bluff our way through bad years.
Yet across the big island, record heatwaves and flooding have filled the news. Global warming is relentless overall but capricious on the local weather scale. Bass Straight has the ability to isolate Tasmania in so many ways!
On a more positive note, and a whole lot more important to you, our followers & customers, we can announce this year our new releases: 2019 Pinot Gris, available at the May Wine Club orders (providing there’s no hold up with the label printing!) and the 2017 The Mattock available at the November Wine Club order.
I would say that both wines are our best vintages to date.
The Pinot Gris has huge depth of flavour, multilayered and with a complexity of savoury flavours that you see in the best European cheeses. Fruits and cheese platter all in one wine.
The 2017 The Mattock is comparable to the Bordeaux wines of the Medoc, which contrasts with the 2016 vintage which has been compared to the ‘Right Bank’ wines of Bordeaux, with more fragrant aromas and softer palate.
Expect big aromas of cassis and cedar, with fuller body and plenty of ripe tannins. Cellaring potential for another decade if you wish! …or great now with a juicy steak or hearty beef dish.
Hope you all had an enjoyable Easter break,
Cheers,
Bob 8.4.26.
