By Farr Viognier 2023

The viognier is a difficult variety to manage as it has a tendency to grow horizontally rather than vertically, it needs a lot of water and can become sunburnt very easily. Because of this they have decided to pick the fruit earlier in the past few years in order to retain its natural acidity, ensuring it maintains varietal character and creating a more delicate and refined wine.

After three solid years of rain the team had hoped for some different growing conditions for the 2023 season. Unfortunately not the case! A cool and wet Spring in 2022 meant that there was severe disease pressure and constant canopy management required up until Christmas. Because of the two previous growing seasons the team was well aware of what was required and did an amazing job once again. Crop levels certainly seemed below average because of the cool and windy conditions, particularly in the chardonnay sites.

With frequent rain events throughout January and early February the ripen period was making little progress until they finally saw extended days into weeks of dryer and warmer weather. The welcome relief started to reveal signs of delicate, super fine flavours, driven by high acidities.

The first day of picking was set for the 16th March, they hedged their bets and picked a little Chardonnay from the Cooper block and a couple of tons of Pinot from the Windmill block. With acidity still quite high and looking for balance of flavours they decided to not pick again until the 20th March. The final harvest was at Bannockburn on the 6th April, and Irrewarra fruit on the 14th April.  All in all Nick is are super excited about the fruit and the wines they are becoming, yet it is the smallest vintage since 2002.