Growing Conditions
Average winter rainfall followed by a warm/dry spring set up an early start to the growing season. Fruit set was variable, resulting in lower yields across most varieties. The warm summer daytime temperatures combined with low yields saw harvest begin very early, at the end of January (one of our earliest ever) and all whites were harvested before the end of February. An incredible display of Marri blossom meant bird pressure was practically non-existent in the first half of vintage, and a short rain event after the white harvest offered some respite setting up the reds perfectly. Warm conditions continued throughout March, with all of the reds being harvested by the first week of April, our earliest ever harvest completion. In summary, 2020 will be remembered as an excellent vintage in Margaret River. Fruit for this wine was predominantly sourced from mature vineyards in the more northern Margaret River subregion of Wilyabrup (51%) along with estate grown fruit from the Wallcliffe subregion (41%), and a portion from a vineyard in Treeton (8%).
Winemaking
Fruit was crushed/destemmed before predominantly small batch fermentation in a combination of static and open fermenters. Fermentation takes 7-8 days @ 24 – 26o C, during which the cap is managed using a combination of aerative pumping over as well as regular plunging by hand. After fermentation 20% of the components experienced a period of extended maceration on skins before a very gentle pressing. MLF takes place in a combination of tank and barrel. The wine was matured for 14 months in French oak (40% new barriques) before the blend was assembled prior to bottling.
