Our wine.

After coming off one of the more extended vintages in 2023, vintage 2024 brought us the opposite! 2024 has certainly been the earliest and quickest vintage we have been a part of. Fruit was around two to four weeks earlier than a ‘classic vintage’ for most varietals due to an unusually warm November and the increasing temperatures and lack of rain through the Summer. The region would normally see on average 94 days being the time from flowing to harvest, however this year on top of the earlier start, the grape maturity was around 10 days less which compounded how early vintage started (and finished)!

The early start wasn’t a great concern for us as it has timed in with a spectacular Marri blossom which is kept the bird pressure down. In general, harvested fruit had epic concentration with slightly higher sugar levels, but strangely so with great natural acid levels as well keeping it fresh and vibrant. Although record breaking in a number of areas, 2024 was still another great vintage, but with a slightly different story, and those vintage conditions that give us vintage variation is what we love to show in our South by South West wines.

The warmer, dry conditions kicked off the season for the first red of the region with Pinot Noir rolling off the vine gracefully on February 12 – a month early than the cool to moderate 2023 vintage! The fruit is a near even split of clone 114 and clone 115. The fruit maintained good acid levels even with the heat and this vintage and has made for a richer style Pinot Noir, a little different to the leaner, crunchier fruit profile of 2023, and more similar to the density of 2022.

The co-harvested clones were crushed and destemmed to cold soaked in tank to extract and stabilise a nice colour early on. 20% were left as whole bunches to provide some added aromatics and complexity to the wine.  Gentle pump overs were performed twice daily. After only 8 days on skins, for a lighter extraction, the fruit was pressed to tank and settled before being sent to 3 year old French Oak barriques to undergo malolactic fermentation and a shorter maturation for 7 months to retain the freshness. The wine was cross flow filtered and minimal sulphites were added to stabilise the wine and ensure its shelf life.

The wine presents with a light vibrancy and soft crimson edge. The nose offers notes of richer cherry and sweet spice.  The wine presents with delicate and silky berry fruits such as raspberry and deep plum on the palate, along with soft spice savouriness. The blend of the two clones brings moderate, balanced tannins to the palate. Sourcing fruit from a cooler climate region combined with the use of older oak has resulted in a wonderfully youthful, yet savoury wine that has balanced acidity and restraint even in a warmer vintage.