Vintage Report

As it had been such a wet cold winter, spring and summer, the challenge for the season was rain and cold with the La Nina weather pattern once again delivering well above average rainfall.

The Chardonnay looks great and the other varieties are also in good shape. We picked about 60% of the fruit by machine and it again showed that the new Selectiv harvesters do a good job bringing in the grapes. As we had more pickers than last year we picked 30 tonnes more by hand. Overall we are satisfied with the outcome.

With a La Nina weather pattern occurring, Vintage 2021 saw a wetter than average growing season and a return to average annual rainfall totals after several dry years.

The cooler conditions resulted in greater flavour development from the longer ripening period.

All of the fruit from this vintage was grown organically, as we’ve been moving towards more sustainable production over recent years.

Fruit quality was excellent and higher total tonnage a reflection of the regenerative work done in underperforming blocks. Disease due to increased rainfall was minimal through good canopy management strategies and early detection.

Vintage began in mid-February and finished in late March with the Indigo hand-picking crew consisting mostly of locals, due to Covid restrictions and consequent labour shortage, performing admirably and also able to help other local vineyards harvest their fruit when there was no picking at Indigo.

Fortuitously, conditions remained relatively dry throughout the harvest period, making for straightforward picking decisions and fruit attaining optimal ripeness. Overall, one of the better recent vintages at Indigo.

Winter 2018 was dry so we began the growing season with much less soil moisture than we would like. Budburst began late in September, a week later than the previous year. There were several light frosts during spring.

On the morning of December 13, a 1 in 100 years deluge hit us with 240mm of rain mainly in a two hour period! The damage to the property was considerable and we were cut off from access by road. 

The vineyard however survived with minor issues and the dams were now overflowing, which ensured we had more than enough irrigation water for the season. After the deluge, summer was hot and dry with 15 days on or above 35c.

Harvest 2019 began February 14, with Pinot Noir our first pick. Over 8 days, we picked all of the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris. Harvest 2019 wound up on March 22, with Cabernet and hand-picked Nebbiolo.

Fruit quality was generally of a high standard across all varieties 

Vintage started on the 18th February with chardonnay. This was 3 weeks later than the previous 3 seasons and concluded on 3rd April with machine harvesting Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. The later season has resulted in really great flavour development in all varieties. 

Budburst was very early following good rainfall during winter and warmer conditions during August. We had excellent vine health into the growing season and flowering came and went without any problems. After the fruit had set we realised there was a quite a bit of work to do thinning fruit as there were a large amount of bunches and they were above average in size.

The 2013 season got off to a late start with budburst starting the last week of September, two weeks later than prior. Winter rains meant moist soil conditions allowing the vines to progress through spring with minimal stress resulting in excellent fruit set and balance.

It never stopped raining. Beechworth was a case of all or none; disease free grapes were perfectly balanced, with great potential. The rest were of ordinary to fair quality or lost completely. There was massive disease pressure, first downy mildew, then botrytis. It was agonisingly slow ripening with the white varieties much better than reds. The upside was flavour development at low baumes. Throughout the region crop losses ranged from significant to total. We picked 239 tonnes in total. Not even enough to satisfy our grape sales contract.

A very dry year where the vintage was affected by heat and smoke. Winter was cold with intermittent rains. The growing season started with very low soil moisture and dams below full capacity. Three frost events occurred but little damage was recorded. Budburst was even with good fruit set and a potential average to above average vintage. Welcome rains in December (43mm) and 2mm on 11 January took the pressure off the limited supply of irrigation water. The season changed at the end of January with eight days recorded above 40°C and also hot night temperatures.

The earliest harvest on record finishing in late February. It was a bloody difficult year with the Australian trifecta of frost, drought and fire. A heavy frost on September 25 caused severe damage. A second frost followed on the October 9 but caused little further grief. A third frost reduced the harvest even further. This was followed by drought conditions throughout late spring and summer. Mild to hot weather accelerated budburst and ripening, but yields are down. Bush fire smoke was a widespread issue for the vintage. Decided not to make any wine due to the lessons learned from the 2003 bushfires.

A relatively cool but top-notch vintage. Heavy frosts in October caused little real damage. Regular light rains over a cool spring/early summer resulted in excellent soil moistures. It was very wet in mid December but hot dry conditions prevailed during the critical ripening period allowing the fruit to achieve optimum ripeness. An even growing season with perfect ripening and excellent fruit conditions. Vintage arrived on the later side of normal. The effect of the drought could be seen in some stress on the vines. Yields in 2005 were low allowing concentrated fruit flavours.

We had an early start to the growing season with a warm dry spring but not much water in the dams or sub soil. A hot, dry summer followed with bushfires threatening vineyards late January and early February. The vintage started very early with whites harvested from the second week of February. Bushfires and severe drought ravaged the region. Smoke haze blanketed the vineyard for several days. While we persisted with picking, the wines made from grapes picked after the fires were impacted and not to our required standard.