Vintage
Vintage at Brokenwood is the most vibrant and exhausting time of year. The team of regular staff is bolstered by a constantly evolving team of itinerant wine industry workers as part of our vintage exchange programme, which takes in young winemakers from Italy, New Zealand, as well as Australia.
Binding all of this together is the vintage chef, who makes breakfast, lunch and dinner for all the crew, and anyone who happens to be in cellar door at the right time.
Vintage commences as early as January, when the Hunter Valley fruit is picked. Semillon is the first variety to come in. Vintage lasts until April, when the last of the fruit from the cooler climate regions is picked.
2012
Preliminary Report 23rd January 2012
If this report was written last week then the talk would have been about sunshine and perfect weather. However a slow moving High sitting west off Tasmania has brought on humid drizzly rain for the Australia Day week. La Nina is still at work.
The winter of 2010 saw more consistent rain than previous years with each month from April 2010 getting above 60mm and June just on 120mm. Rain in the last 3 months was 310mm so quite a wet spring and start to the growing season. Unlike 2010 it was spread out and we were able to keep up the spray program. Warm, dry weather followed through Xmas and into the New Year but thankfully not the 40-45C days of 2011.
All the Brokenwood vineyards are in excellent condition with the Graveyard Vineyard having at least two sweeps of fruit thinning. The Cricket Pitch Semillon has already been picked.
Cowra has had a wet spring, ending with the same rainfall as the Hunter Valley and this has continued into January. Orange is up in rainfall and in both regions the vineyards are looking first class.
In contrast the Indigo Vineyard at Beechworth for the last 3 months recorded 185mm,thankfully way down on the same period in 2010 when the vineyard had 470mm. Fruit thinning has been necessary on some blocks and the Indigo
Vineyard guys have the place in perfect nick.
McLaren Vale has enjoyed warm weather since Xmas and some supplementary watering has started. Good results are expected.
2nd March 2012
It is hard to believe that only 5 weeks have passed since the last report as it does feel more like 8 weeks. Such is the fun of vintage that everyone works twice as long and in one week 2,000km may have been covered. The incessant rain hasn’t helped anyone’s demeanour. The stop/start nature meant that, ‘are we there yet?’ has been replaced with ‘can we start yet?’
In 2011 Australia Day was celebrated in 43C sunshine but with 2012 it was 30mm of drizzling rain. Brokenwood launched into #vintage2012 on 31st January and while we have had to walk away from a few vineyards, we did end up with the full volume of Semillon we required. The problem was twofold for a lot of vineyards; the lack of summer combined with high crops. The first classification tasting has confirmed they are top class Semillon’s with plenty of citrus/lime juice and mineral texture. A few Single Vineyard parcels will be kept separate. The last Semillon crush was on the 20th February so a lot more spread out than usual. Rainfall for February has been 170mm.
Even with two fruit thinning sweeps through the Graveyard Vineyard, the lack of heat has meant diabolically slow ripening. More fun to watch paint dry. These’s photos are of us pressing our 300kg picked off the most southern Graveyard block, affectionately known as either Steel City or now days Vegas block due the fortune spent on it over the years. Well Brokenwood is boutique!!!! The feeling is that at least the ‘hang time’ the reds have had, has ripened some of the tannins and now also very good colour. Classic, low alcohol Hunter Valley dry reds are going to be the feature of 2012.
On a very happy note, new winemaker Simon Steele, saw most of the Semillon into the winery and then shot through to Beechworth where he knew the region was shaping up for one of its best in years. As at 24th February, all the Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir have been picked with lots of variations in processing. Simon, having worked in Burgundy and more recently with Matt Harrop at Shadowfax does know a thing or two about getting complexity with finesse in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The Shiraz should also be very exciting with the State of Origin blocks another year older. These are cuttings from the old vines on Graveyard, Rayner, Wade and Seville Estate vineyards.
The southern states are paying the price for the wet lead up to and over the 2011 vintage. Yields are very low especially on the reds. We start harvesting week of 27th February, extraordinarily early. King Valley and Orange round out the regions are both are looking top class at present.
All good news from here on.
Post script 28th February Hunter Valley. A week of 30-35C weather has helped the last of the Graveyard Vineyard and Verona Shiraz that was left out. KB and Katrina have worked wonders in the vineyard and even though a lot of rain is due, we’re prepared to leave a couple of blocks out. The possibility of a Hunter Shiraz or yes, even a Graveyard Shiraz looks better every day.
14 May 2012
Exactly two months on since the previous report and with the arrival of Nick Bulleid and his Pinot Noir, I think we can safely say that the last fruit is in, 91 days after we started on Hunter
Valley Semillon.
The 40th Brokenwood vintage, the 30th vintage of Iain Riggs at the helm, the 20th for Vineyard Manager Keith Barry and the 1st for Simon Steele, has been one full of interest and challenges.
The last two months has seen every berry of our Hunter red picked, probably the only Hunter winery to do so. Simon and Stuart and the winery team have delivered an excellent range of wines from Hunter Valley Semillon and Shiraz to the full complement out of Beechworth (the Chardonnay and Pinot are particularly exciting), rich robust reds from McLaren Vale and cool climate Sauvignon Blanc from the Forest Edge Vineyard at Orange. However the rain and disease pressure did get the better of the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay at Forest Edge.
Interesting to see that the Southern Oscillation Index returned to negative or El Nino territory in mid April 2012, bringing up exactly two years of La Nina conditions. Hunter Valley winemakers can work with the odd break in the weather to turn out top wines but a rain free vintage would be welcomed I’m sure.
Of course El Nino could also mean days on end of 40C plus weather, so to keep one step ahead a 100sqm blast chilling cold room is being built, along with a complete upgrade and relocation of the refrigeration system.
The winery waste water is now being recycled for growing jumbo grass and then harvested for vineyard mulch.
Wines going to bottle in the next few weeks include three Single Vineyard 2012 Semillon’s, one of which will be released at 6 years as the ILR Reserve as well as a very fresh and vibrant 2012 Hunter Semillon. The other early bottling will be the 2012 Beechworth Pinot Gris.
With all the 2012 grapes in the winery, work swaps over to getting the 2011 reds out of oak and the most important of all being the 2011 Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz.
Mention should be made of the great vintage crew in 2012. Our ‘Brains’ Brokenwood Prize winner from Adelaide Uni, Lauren Hansen, tackled her first vintage with gusto and Lauren will be a great asset to the wine industry in years to come.
Iain Riggs
Chief Winemaker
2011
Preliminary Report 18th January 2011
Contrary to most thinking the Hunter Valley has had and is having, a perfect lead up to the 2011 vintage.
The 2010 calendar year ended at just over 900mm, up on the 90 year average of 800mm, with the wettest month being November at 156mm. Since then the Valley has had a cool and dry December and January 2011 has followed suit with only one day above 40C on the 2nd January. The wet November did cause some disease pressure but the vineyard guys soon got on top of it and then we had the opposite with sun burn on the 2nd. Fruit thinning has been carried on all Brokenwood blocks and other winemakers have followed suit. This is to help, mainly the red grapes, drop the damaged fruit and to open up the fruiting zone for airflow.
Winemakers report being very happy with the way the fruit looks, especially Chardonnay. The Semillon crop is reasonably heavy but because of the wet spring, is supported by very good canopies. Processing of grapes for sparkling base is under way and the odd tonne of early harvest white but the main crush for table wine is not expected till late January. The red harvest will kick off second week of February.
2nd February 2011
Contrary to most thinking the Hunter Valley has had and is having, a perfect lead up to the 2011 vintage.
The 2010 calendar year ended at just over 900mm, up on the 90 year average of 800mm, with the wettest month being November at 156mm. Since then the Valley has had a cool and dry December and January 2011 has followed suit with only one day above 40C on the 2nd January. The wet November did cause some disease pressure but the vineyard guys soon got on top of it and then we had the opposite with sun burn on the 2nd. Fruit thinning has been carried on all Brokenwood blocks and other winemakers have followed suit. This is to help, mainly the red grapes, drop the damaged fruit and to open up the fruiting zone for airflow.
Winemakers report being very happy with the way the fruit looks, especially Chardonnay. The Semillon crop is reasonably heavy but because of the wet spring, is supported by very good canopies. Processing of grapes for sparkling base is under way and the odd tonne of early harvest white but the main crush for table wine is not expected till late January.
At the time of writing, the Lower Hunter Valley is heading for its 3rd day of 40C and if Australia Day is included, it makes it 4 days. As expected there is some leaf burn in the vineyards but the fruit is advanced enough not to be suffering too much. The reds grapes are looking superb at this stage and selective watering essential. By the weekend, 5th and 6th, the white grapes will be basically done and not surprisingly sugars have crept up with Semillon now over the 11 baume mark. Winemakers in the area say that the Chardonnay and Verdelho are the best for many years.
31st May 2011
The expression ‘when the going gets tough the tough get going’ has never been more appropriate than for the 2011 vintage. For once the Hunter Valley didn’t cause too many problems. Brokenwood’s fruit sourcing includes from Orange, Cowra, Beechworth, King Valley, McLaren Vale and all had copious amounts of rain and low heat days. However our growers and vineyard guys did an extraordinary job of getting us quality fruit. For instance the Indigo Vineyard at Beechworth ended up 30% shy of normal with great Pinot Gris through to Cabernet Sauvignon and Derek Wade’s McLaren Vale vines not only produced the same as normal but super quality as well.
The Hunter Valley winemakers have held their annual new season Semillon tasting and then backed this up with a media preview following the Legends Awards night. Some Hunter Valley whites will be a bit light in the mid palate but most have perfect structure with the full spectrum of fruit characters from talc/snow pea to vanillin and citrus. The reds of 2011 match those of the previous two vintages – medium bodied and supple.
Enclosed in this release is a very special wine - it is the 25th release of the Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz. The first release was in 1983 and there was no wine made in 1992 or 2008. This is, as every Graveyard should be, rich in earthy sweet shiraz flavours but fine in tannin and alcohol. This is accompanied by another Single Vineyard Hunter, plus the 2009 Mistress Block, the 2007 Wade block 2 (a Gold Medal winner at Adelaide Wine Show in 2010) and our latest Indigo Vineyard Chardonnay.
So all Single Vineyard wines, all showing typicity of their terroir and all perfect winter tipples.
Iain Riggs
Chief Winemaker
2010
Preliminary Report 29th January 2010
One of the joys of the Hunter Valley, apart from the wines, is the enthusiasm of the younger brigade of winemakers. Sarah Crowe for instance was with Brokenwood for a number of years, won the Hunter Wine Industry Award for Rising Star last year and is now off running another local winery. Her place has been filled by a keen young Hunter man Stuart Horden. And despite all the doom and gloom about the wine industry, they are approaching the vintage with great energy and respect for Hunter wine styles. Vintage 2010 is an exciting one for the young and the young at heart.
The Hunter Valley finished the calendar year with 680mm of rain and the majority of that in the winter months. Then followed a very warm to hot spring but bud burst and flowering was unaffected. Friday 20th November saw the temperature hit 46C and gave way to one of our more spectacular summer storms. The hail that swept across the lower Hunter Valley, came around the foothills of the Brokenback Range, then swung north east taking in the Graveyard and Verona vines, then across Hope Estate and continued down Palmers Lane and across to the Lovedale region, did a reasonable amount of damage. Vines/grapes and roadside trees took a belting. The Broke/Fordwich area got their turn on the 22nd December. A bit of fruit thinning, even if random, didn’t do too much harm and the continued 40C weather helped dry out the damaged fruit. Rain at the end of December and then again on the 3rd January had the vines in great shape.
Vintage started on the 20th January and all whites picked by 28th, one of the most compressed pickings at Brokenwood. A number of hail affected blocks were fruit thinned through December and this paid dividend as the Semillon and Chardonnay juice are terrific. Varying sugars from 10 baume up to 11.5 for the Semillon and 12.5 to 13 for the Chardonnay. Some reds have been picked in the valley but mainly off very low yielding blocks. The Graveyard, Verona and Mistress Block Shiraz is approximately one week off. This will again be picked over a very short time meaning the Hunter vintage could be all done and dusted by mid February. Quality will be high.
The east coast is back into an El Nino weather pattern and it will be interesting to see if January vintages become the norm for the Hunter Valley. Of our other regions, Beechworth appears to be the pick, with great winter rainfall and a mild to warm summer.
Updated 6th March 2010
The Hunter finished the calendar year with 680mm of rain and the majority of that in the winter months. Then followed a very warm to hot spring but bud burst and flowering was unaffected. Friday 20th November saw the temperature hit 46C and gave way to one of our more spectacular summer storms. The hail that swept across the lower Hunter Valley, came around the foothills of the Brokenback Range, then swung north east taking in the Graveyard and Verona vines. A bit of fruit thinning, even if random, didn’t do too much harm and the continued 40C weather helped dry out the damaged fruit. Rain at the end of December and then again on the 3rd January had the vines in great shape.
Vintage started on the 20th January and all whites picked by 28th, one of the most compressed pickings at Brokenwood. A number of hail affected blocks were fruit thinned through December and this paid dividend as the Semillon and Chardonnay juice are terrific. Varying sugars from 10 baume up to 11.5 for the Semillon and 12.5 to 13 for the Chardonnay. The Graveyard, Verona and Mistress Block Shiraz will again be picked over a very short time meaning the Hunter vintage could be all done and dusted by mid February.
In terms of weather vagaries, 2010 did not ease up. Brokenwood managed to get most of the red grapes in after the 180mm of rain in late January (with another 34mm on 6th February). This timing would not normally present a problem but the early ripening meant the grapes were at their best. Some dilution of sugar levels, say 13.5 down 12.5 baume but the colour was already well established. For the third year in a row all red grapes went over the sorting table. A very good chance of a Graveyard Shiraz.
Cowra was low in crop due to the October frosts and the Orange region gallantly battled the rain only to be on the losing end. Pick of our regions for 2010 is Beechworth followed by McLaren Vale.
Iain Riggs
Chief Winemaker/Managing Director
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