Vintage Reports

Vintage report 2011

Never have we had so much disease pressure in the vineyard as this vintage! It has been absolutely constant, and it's required relentless attention to detail and scrutiny of our management practices most of all the spray program and canopy management.

 We had an early outbreak of powdery mildew, which we responded swiftly to with our "shock and awe program” spraying almost weekly! Fortunately we've managed to keep that at bay! Downy mildew has just not let up either, all that's required for an out-break is the conditions of 10, 10, 24.This translates to 10 mm of rain with the temperature remaining above 10 degrees within a 24 hour period and it's guaranteed! We've had event after event the up side is of all the fungal problems it is the easiest to control.

We picked the sparkling base on the 12/3/2011 and it looked great. On the 29th of March we picked the Sauvignon Blanc and the fruit also came in very clean with great figures, there was only small patches of botrytis rot.Due to this and the late out break of powdery mildew on the leaves in the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir blocks (doesn't affect the fruit at this stage as the sugar in the grapes prevent the fungus from growing) it prompted us to move as soon as practical onto picking the Chardonnay' we did this on Saturday the 2/4/2011, this is very late for us! It's not since vintage 2000 that we were running to this timetable. So it's not un heard of to be starting vintage this late but not what we have grown use to in the last decade. Again the figures although lower in sugar levels were very good and in balance and most importantly the fruit tasted ripe! There was quite a lot of sorting to do and we had two people working on the sorting table all day weeding out any remnants of powdery mildew!
On the 17/4/2011 we picked the Pinot noir, it was very much the case of holding our nerve a bit here as we were determined not to panic and pick to soon but to wait for the flavors to improve, this is all possible if there is a canopy to support the fruit and you do get some sunshine and the figures stay in balance.... acid and pH and sugars! And of course it all doesn’t just fall to bits on you.... bunch rot, berries shriveled. So there we were telling ourselves to "hold", "hold"! It was a good decision and we think we've nailed it?
Now last but not least we picked the merlot and cabernet Sauvignon on the 25/4/2011 and it also came in with very good figures... No estate wines needed any adjustments this year, that doesn’t happen very often!

We have for the first time decided to blend the two Bordeaux varieties (Cabernet/Merlot) this year and are presently deciding on what we'll call the blend.... perhaps Blend Number 1. Stay tuned!

All the wines are safely in barrel.... time to relax?
Cheers Pat and Kirsten

Vintage rating 7/10

Vintage Report 2010

We had fairly mild and calm weather leading up to vintage 2010. The crop levels were excellent pinot came in at just over two tonne s to the acre and only required a light shoot thinning. There was no need to leaf pluck this season as the ground moisture was modest and the vigor was manageable this combined with a dry February and March resulted in leaf drop coiciding with fruit ripeness.

Picking commenced on the 21/3/10 and went with out note apart from a minor hiccup or two........due to a very busy lead up to vintage and the availability of labour at the critical time we decided to pick the fruit from underneath the nets, this was the first time and although it does make it difficult having to nergociate hanging nets and long grass it did prove to be a good move because at the end of picking the pinot noir (we had almost picked the entire Pinot block) a spectacular storm struck and the heavens opened up hurtling hail stones the size of golf balls at us! Guess what? They bounced of the nets but absolutely stripped any growth that had managed to poke it nose through them! Breaking the clear plastic roofing sheets and damaged many cars including ours, but the fruit was saved, undamaged! Under the protection of the nets.

The remaining fruit was picked some days later. On the other hand we were flooded, the winery had a river running through it (momentarily) and we were all washed out. The resulting wines look great particularly the Pinot and we look froward to sampling them our selves when they are ready. Every vintage is an adventure full of laughter and tears! This one proved to be just that but a success in the end

Vintage Rating 9/10

Cannibal Creek Vintage Report 2009

2009 saw extreme weather conditions the worst of which was Black Saturday, when Victoria had its worst bushfires possibly ever. We were six km from the Bunyip State Park fires, a very distressing time for everyone.

Prior to that day we experienced 3 consecutive days of heat above 45 deg C, what this did to the vines was terrible, it literally cooked two thirds of the crop, the berries fried on the vines and a considerable amount of the canopy died too. From there on in we had to limp across the line to ripen what was remaining and we used every lick of water we had to do so! Fortunately we escaped any smoke taint which affected many growers this year. Despite these challenging conditions, what did remain was very good. The stand outs would have to be the Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir.

Our latest news and something we are very much looking forward to, is the addition of Sparkling to our range “Blanc de Blanc”! Although this will not be ready for at least 18 months or longer.... something to look forward.

Cheers Pat & Kirsten

Vintage Rating 7/10

Cannibal Creek Vintage Report 2007

Vintage this year has been testing to say the least, I will start with the major event on October the 16th2006 but firstly I would like to remind you of the 2006 winter which was the driest year any of us had seen in this district for as long as we remember.

This made for an early budburst and a picture perfect vineyard, until these dry conditions caused a late, black (no visible ice) frost which caused 100% of the vineyard being burnt off at the stage of the shoots being about 300ml long, let’s says six weeks in to the growing season. Devastating!

What we decided to do within days was to call the winter pruners back in and cut off all growth and force the vine to call on its second shoot to grow. This was unknown territory for me and my focus at that stage was to gain enough shoot growth so as the vines would be fruitful the following year (dictated by sunlight on the shoot the previous season).

As it turned out, after much watering and some fertilizer we managed to set a crop and ripen successfully a small vintage of less than one tonne an acre and from what I see at the moment it’s looking pretty good.

As they say ‘it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good’, as due to being six weeks retarded in the growth cycle we managed to miss the smoke taint problems suffered by so many. Another eventful and challenging year put to bed!

Cheers Pat

Vintage Rating 6/10

Cannibal Creek Vintage Report 2006

We have never seen such an early vintage as this before, all the grapes had been picked and it was still the middle of April, normally we would only have just started. The fruit looked fantastic and all the figures (flavours, acid and sugars) were as close to perfect, just what we were looking for. If I had to pick, I would say Pinot and the Cabernet are the stand outs in the reds even though it's early days! The Sauvignon Blanc is also looking very smart and is much on the same lines as the 2005 vintage, this should be available sometime in early September 2006. I haven't mentioned the Chardonnay, it is probably the fruitiest I've seen at Cannibal Creek and I'm looking forward to tracking it's progress over the year.

What has characterized this vintage is how early it has been and the consistently warm weather has been great for ripening. We also saw a very healthy canopy due to good soil moisture levels, because of careful management and the good climatic conditions, resulting in great balance in the fruit and low pH's. Perfect!

Cheers Pat

Vintage Rating 8/10

 

 

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