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.
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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