The life cycle of a vine is a pretty simple one, repeated from year to year, decade to decade and in some cases century to century. Pruning over winter, Bud Burst and Flowering in Spring, Fruit Set in Early Summer, followed by Veraison when the red grapes gain their colour. The grapes are picked in March or April and the cycle starts again. But if only it was that simple, so many factors impact the season, temperature, rainfall, frost, hail, and increasingly problematic, wind. This makes sure each vintage is different, and the resulting fruit and wine varies year to year. This, a source of great frustration, but also much joy. It is a key component of what makes wine so exciting to drink.

2020 vintage started well, with reasonable albeit low rainfall over winter, the vineyards were pruned and things got off to a good start. Since then, we have had some hot days but balanced by relieving cold nights, a few light frosts but importantly a lot of wind and hence little disease pressure.

We expect that our normally reliable Grenache crops will be down significantly this year, Mataro similarly suffering but the more advanced Shiraz looks close to normal, for now. We will have to wait and see as the season develops what impacts these events have had on quality and quantity of vintage 2020 in the Barossa Valley. But we are optimistic as our old vines are hardy and still do well in these trying conditions. 2019 was a tough year with yields well down but the quality is so good it is looking like one of the best vintages of the last 30 years. Let’s hope 2020 does the same!