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 fruit-set 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.

The appearance is crystalline, a brilliant pale straw. Delicate, perfumed aromatics of quince blossom, lemon balm and spice lift from the glass, white florals follow closely behind. On the palate a fine line of fresh acidity frames the concentrated fruit, full of yellow grape fruit, lemon zest, crunchy white peach and a wonderful chalky line all coiled up with some delicate oak spice. This wine has power, weight and drive with a plush, long finish.

Picked in the cool of the morning across on 27th and 28th February (a blend of Mendoza and I10V1 clones), the fruit was placed in the cool room overnight to maintain berry turgor and freshness and then pressed cold the following morning. The juice spent 24 hours in tank and was then mixed for full solids homogenisation and transferred to barrel with these solids for primary fermentation. Partial MLF was undertaken and the wine spent 10 months in new (25%) and used oak before blending with full solids into tank. The wine was bottled on December 11th, 2024.

Match with King George Whiting, homemade tartare and pommes dauphine