Shiraz Viognier 2021

A La Nina year, over 1000mm of rain – our long-term average is 630mm.

A cool season, there was only one four-day period in January when the temperature hit the mid-thirties. For most of the ripening window, mid-twenties were the norm.

A long and relatively slow ripening with picking dates closer to what we used to see 20 years ago, concluding in the third week of April.

The significant rain event that swept through New South Wales in late March increased the pressure on the almost-ripe reds with botrytis breaking out in some of the ripest blocks.

The weeks before and after Easter were warm and on the Easter weekend itself four days of high 20s.  Picking proceeded with great care to avoid botrytis and smaller crops of beautifully flavoured fruit were harvested.