was the culmination of a very good season. A wet winter ushered in a mild spring with below average rainfall. Generally dry conditions persisted throughout the summer, but without the killingly hot days that shut down vine metabolism. There was little disease pressure and the grapes ripened steadily. We picked 5 tonnes in the second week in March and another tonne and a half a week later.

All the fruit was in excellent condition; for some reason this year we completely escaped the attentions of our feathered friends and Grant McRostie’s war on wasp nests delayed their annual population explosion until after the vintage was safely in.