Vintage 2010 Overview
26 May 2010
One word to sum up vintage 2010:
Amazing
One sentence to sum up vintage 2010: Moderate
weather with no spiking temperatures and timely rainfall produced very evenly ripened fruit with amazing acid, pH and flavour balance.
We started picking grapes on the 19th of February and finished on the 24th of April, so all in all, a long vintage by our standards but we achieved a lot in that time.
We made over 65 different parcels of wine, even though we only picked 134 tonnes. This is the legacy of two tonne red fermenters but I believe it just makes better wines for we can trial so many different winemaking techniques and keep batches separate.
By variety:WHITES -
Chardonnay: Macedon endured some humid conditions and disease pressure was high but we used a lot of canopy management and picked fruit for both methode champenoise and table wine that was clean. The juice analysis was formidable with almost perfect sugar, pH and acid. 9/10
Semillon Sauvignon Blanc: Margaret River like the east coast had a very good vintage, with fruit flavours appearing before sugar ripeness. This has resulted in our newly bottled 2010 SSB having lower alcohol than last year but with more pronounced fruit flavour. I am a happy man. 8.5/10
Viognier and other whites from Heathcote and Bendigo: We picked Viognier from two Heathcote vineyards and one from just over the Mount Alexander range behind Bress. Viognier this year was marked by intense orange blossom and apricot kernel characters and has translated well into the
bottle. We have made a Heathcote Bendigo La Gallina white wine, which is predominantly Viognier and is loosely modelled on the white blends of the south Cote Du Rhone. Other varieties used in La Gallina White are Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay and Muller Thurgau. These varieties are grown in small quantities at Bress and all ripened well. 8.5/10
REDS - Shiraz: Heathcote as usual kicked off early but we were amazed by the fruits' ability to maintain its pH and acid balance. The wines are intensely coloured but have an elegance about them. They have all now finished malolactic fermentation.
Northern Bendigo, namely Marong was picked later than normal and had lower sugar levels than normal, with similar crop levels to the past few years. Not quite as confronting as normal but still have some serious power.
Harcourt and surrounds picked later and have delightful elegance and length. We are thinking about planting more. What am I thinking? 9/10
Spanish Blends namely Tempranillo and Garnacha for La Gallina Red: These grapes come from Heathcote and in keeping with a familiar theme come in with lower sugar levels but great fruit flavours. The Temp has this lovely chalky tannin character and the Garnacha a lovely plushness about it. We have blended some Shiraz into the La Gallina Red which has already been bottled without any time in oak. 8.5/10
Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc for our Rose: This fruit was all picked from our property and reverting to spur pruning has helped these vines produce a more balanced and even crop with better
fruit flavours and analyticals than I have seen. The resultant wine was 100% stainless steel fermented and has come up very nicely. 8.5/10
Pinot Noir: From Macedon we picked from four different vineyards and all of the wines are quite different. That could be simply put down to terrior but the similarities are also quite striking. Elegance, varietal character and length. A great year for Macedon Pinot. 9/10
