Vintage Report

2023

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.

2022

This was a very challenging vintage with the La Nina weather pattern delivering well above average rainfall. The other impacts were numerous late Spring cold events, relatively cool temperatures, big summer storms and high humidity. The ongoing rain kept the team on the tractors with sprays, trimming and leaf removal. There was also lots of walking through the vineyard cutting out affected bunches. The conditions meant that picking for the 2022 vintage was some 4 weeks later than the past few years. Vintage 2022 began on February 21 and finished on 14 April.

2021

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.

2020

With the New Year came the outbreak of bush fires in Victoria. They weren’t close by and neither Beechworth township or the vineyard were under threat. Fortunately, the fires did not come, however, the smoke came into the region. It was not a pleasant place to be. The smoke became our enemy.As a result of the impact of smoke from the bush fires, we made the hard decision to abandon our Vintage 2020.

We picked 2 tonnes of Chardonnay and 2 tonnes of Nebbiolo for Rose as an experiment.

2019

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

2018

2018 was an atypical year with the growing season was punctuated by three distinct stages- a cold beginning with late frosts, a wet middle and a dry and hot finale.

Vintage began with a rush on Friday February 9 with all the early varieties ripening together. We picked over 170 tonnes in the first nine days, and finished on Wednesday March 21. Unlike December and January. Conditions throughout harvest were generally dry and benign, with weather perfect for ripening. February and March were drier than average, with a short storm dumping 23mm of rain on February 25 the only rainfall during vintage.

2017

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.

2016

Vintage was incredibly compressed with our first fruit harvested on the 2nd of February and our last on the 7th March. Fruit quality was excellent across the entire vineyard with little disease pressure. After what seemed like one of the coldest and wettest winters in years, September was one of the driest on record. Temperatures during late August and September were on average, but in October temperatures rose to well above average with days of 34 degrees and very windy conditions.

Bud burst was around 14 days later than last season.

While there was relatively good rainfall during spring and again in late January, there was no rainfall at all over the vineyard for the month of February and into March.

2015

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.

2014

The 2014 season started with good winter rains leaving both our dams full to capacity for summer. On 18 October we suffered a significant frost which reduced yields significantly. January saw severe heat wave conditions with 9 consecutive days at or above 35 degrees, and 4 consecutive days above 40 with the maximum of 46.9 degrees on 16 January. These conditions brought on an early vintage with picking starting on 6 February. Yields were significantly reduced but wine quality was very high.

2013

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.

2012

Bud burst in chardonnay and pinot noir started 10th September followed by other varieties, with cabernet last at around 6 October. Soil moisture heading into the season was excellent and irrigation was not required until a hot Christmas week. January saw relatively cool daytime temperatures.

2011

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.

2010

We had great winter rainfall some frost in October. Verasion in the pinot noir was between Christmas and New Years Eve closely followed by the white varieties and the reds. A mild to warm start to summer then extended heat during January. Both Brad and Casey worked in shifts to keep the irrigation rotation going 24 hours. Rain began to fall on the 5th of February giving relief to the vines cooling temperatures and slowing sugar ripening to allow flavour development. Over the next two weeks more rain fell and temperatures continued to remain in the high 20s - low 30s which was ideal.

2009

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.

2008

A very good year for Beechworth with a long, even ripening period. The 2008 vintage came after an extensive drought placing pressure on sugar levels and flavours meaning that choosing the picking date for each block was critical. Good rainfalls during winter filled dams and improved overall soil moisture. The region experienced good top up rains during a relatively cool spring.

2007

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.

2006

The 2006 vintage again showed the effect of drought. Winter rains filled dams and saturated the soils. Spring remained wet and cold, but temperatures rose towards the end of December. Warm to hot and dry weather prevailed after Christmas right up to picking. High temperatures early in the vintage resulted in early ripening and picking. Yields in 2006 were approximately 3 tonne to the acre.

An earlyish vintage with some very convincing wines made.

2005

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.

2004

Good winter and spring rains provided a normal start to the season. Notwithstanding a couple of light frosts, there was good rain and kind, relatively weather up until New Year. After this it became very dry for the rest of summer, with a couple of brief, hot bursts. Picking was about the normal time and the grapes were beautifully mature, without being over-ripe. The wines have tremendous flavours and balance.

2003

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.

2002

After an extremely dry winter and a frost on 22 October, the four summer rains (which totalled about 30 mm), provided relief. The ripening season was one of the coolest in 10 years. The cool summer, a very windy fruit set and flowering period resulted in tonnages which were slightly below average. Due to the cool summer, the general harvest started three weeks behind last year and two weeks behind normal. This has allowed, however, good flavour development and excellent natural acids.