The 2024 season threw up a little bit of everything! It began with a lovely dry and relatively calm November leading to good flowering and fruitset for the vines. The dry start was quickly replaced by one of the wettest December and January periods we have seen with 282mm of rain falling over these two months. With the soils brimming with water, the vines green and with plenty of vegetative growth, we slipped into the driest February and March we have experienced, with a mere 10mm of rain falling. The large canopies coupled with the hot and somewhat late summer powered the beautiful bunches through to ripeness with harvest coming early and finishing fast—completed in a two and a half week period across the whole vineyard.

Sparkling in the bottle, the vibrant green hue glints in the glass. Heady floral aromatics of passionfruit flower, soft yellow fruits, pine-lime, lemongrass and spice waft from the glass. The palate is filled with sweet and weighty passionfruit, green mango and exotic spice framed by fine talcy acidity and slatey minerality. A touch of oak adds textural complexity – the finish is long and salivating.

Handpicked on the 28th February the fruit was cooled overnight and whole bunch pressed the following morning. After light settling in tank, 20% of the juice was taken with some solids to fill one new and one old French oak barrique for 20 days of fermentation. This technique adds texture and mouthfeel to the finished wine. The remaining 80% of the juice underwent a long and cool fermentation in tank to capture varietal freshness after which time the two parcels were blended together. The wine spent a further 4 months on full lees in tank to build complexity before bottling in July.

Best drunk with pan fried fillets of flathead with butter and parsley, shoe string fries and great company.