VINTAGES

Vintage 2008 A most unusual and spectacular year!

December last year, my Vintage Report noted that Spring had given us the best growing conditions since we first planted in 1996.
Spring weather was followed by some particularly hot days in December which caused some exposed fruit to suffer sunburn. Here the berry can actually shrivel completely whilst others simply give the appearance of a browning of the skin without affecting fruit quality. This was followed by perfect warm and dry conditions which meant a reduced spray regime to avoid mildews which occur when conditions are both moist and humid. We were perhaps fortunate to experience these weather conditions as pruning in the previous year following the devastation of both frosts and smoke from the bushfires had been undertaken leniently with the preservation and viability of the vine itself uppermost in our minds.
With such perfect weather conditions sugar and acid levels were rising and falling respectively at rates not previously experienced. Constant and regular monitoring of fruit composition became critical to get the timing of harvest correct. Harvesting for some wines commenced in February. The season for harvesting of fruit which usually spans up to ten weeks was reduced substantially. In our case harvest was completed by late March a time span of only four weeks.
This phenomena across the whole State meant that a lot of wineries were caught short for the ability to process what was a higher yield than normal in a reduced time frame.
It is one thing to get the timing of the harvest correct, it is another thing completely to get wineries to process fruit as soon as it is harvested. Freight, bin capacity refrigeration facilities and fermenting tank space in particular which determines when the winemaker can accept deliveries of fruit were at an absolute premium.
With fantastic support from our winemakers, Al Fencaros for all our still table wines and Howard Anderson for our sparkling wine we were able to harvest all our fruit at what we considered to be the optimum moment and to have the winemakers commence processing and fermentation immediately. What joy! What relief!
A very big Thankyou to both Al and Howard.
In 2008 we harvested/sold nearly 34 tonnes of fruit. By far the largest amount of grapes we have ever processed and what makes it even better is the winemakers are delighted with the quality. Having now tasted ex tank and the unwooded varieties now in bottle we are confident that 2008 vintages will be exceptional with the prospect of at least two new releases will be given ‘Reserve’ status – another first.

Vintage 2007 For the first time during the drought period since we planted our vines in 1996 we had no rain water run off into our 12 million litre dam. With the level of our only water source for the grapevines at only 3 million litres meant we had to ration water supplies throughout what became a hot summer just to keep the plants alive.
The irony is that we have learned a few lessons on using water more effectively which in future should lead to an improved quality in our fruit.
On the 22nd October we then suffered a Black (Convection) frost when temperatures reached minus 5 degrees. While winter frosts have no effect on grapevines, early frosts do. After the buds burst and form new primary green shoots in early to mid September they are most vulnerable to frost as the tiny new cells readily freeze then burst and the new shoots die. This was our first major frost following budburst when the new canes were only about 20centimetres long.
This episode has ramifications not only for the current season but also the following season and sometimes beyond. Following death of the primary shoots secondary shoots develop and start to appear some three weeks later. These shoots are not as healthy and do not develop into the strong fruit bearing canes that come from primary shoots. This meant that we were facing a diminished harvest as the fruit produced was at about 20% of what we normally harvest.
These shorter and weaker canes now form the basis of next year’s crop. Pruning is impacted as the dead shoots (spurs) need to be removed and the secondary shoots become the basis for the following years canes which support the bunches of grapes.
On 1st December and for 4 weeks thereafter, we experienced the Alpine forest fires. We endured dense smoke which unbeknown to us at the time was being absorbed by the vines via the stomata (pores in the leaf which allow the leaves to respire and protect it from the extremes of temperature). The smoke then forms a compound within the leaf which is known as guaiacol. This compound is commonly known as smoke taint and at prescribed levels becomes evident in the wines taste. It tastes more like ash rather than a smoked taste, otherwise we could have made some fume varieties!!. Tests we had conducted on our fruit early in the New Year revealed guaiacol at levels 5 times the recommended maximum levels. Well we had no choice but to forget about vintage and so un-netted the vines and allowed the drought hungry birds to feast on
what remained of our meagre crop.

Vintage 2006: Malcolm has taken the full-time job of managing the vineyard and leading up to our 2006 vintage he undertook a thorough and fastidious pruning program. Shoot thinning of our pinot noir and pinot meunier was also undertaken in order to manage the canopy size and to allow the right amount of sunlight to ripen the fruit.
Some of our chardonnay crop were uprooted to make way for other varieties and planting of Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Temperanillo (a Spanish red grape) was completed by the end of August 2005
A rigorous spray program commenced early in November 2005to combat the weeds and as a result of good management and damn hard work our vineyard is looking just great!
Vintage was a hot one this year—the long hot summer days meant that harvest came early and because of the popularity of our 2004 vintage sparkling white, we decided to harvest most of our 2006 fruit of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier for making more bubbly. By 1 March harvest was over, fruit picked and sent to our Sparkling wine maker Howard Anderson at Anderson Winery in Rutherglen.
Following recent soil tests the soil has been treated with a spread of super phosphate, and pruning for our 2007 crop levels is about to begin.
The new varieties planted in Spring of Riesling, and Temperanillo have struck well and it won’t be too long now before we can add these varieties to our range of cool climate wines.

Vintage 2005: At 400 metres above sea level the vineyard enjoys all the essential qualities to produce premium grade fruit. Lots of clear sunny days in summer and autumn provide the necessary photosynthesis for the fruit to fully ripen.
The vineyards proximity to Mt Buller means cool to cold nights with the resultant variation in daily temperatures providing just the right circumstances for the fruit to capture their subtle characters.
2005 season was by far the best for many years Kinloch achieved excellent bud burst in the spring associated with good rains and followed by a cool but dry summer spell. We sold most of our chardonnay crop but reserved small parcels of premium fruit to produce our unoaked chardonnay and wild ferment chardonnay. Special care was taken this season to shoot thin and then bunch thin our pinot noir and pinot meunier to achieve balanced crop levels and already these two wines in the barrels are showing signs of remarkable quality worthy of "reserve" status. So watch out for these releases!!

Vintage 2004: Climatic conditions beyond our control severely impacted uponthe berry development and subsequent sugar levels. The late onset of spring delayed the ripening process by around 4 weeks which meant that we needed the usual long dry autumn to get the fruit to fully ripen. A burst of frost and cold weather during March was unanticipated and was unusual for that time of year which adversely affected the ripening process. Early ripening varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling escaped these conditions. Our chardonnay and pinot possessed consistent flavours however it was unable to achieve sugar levels of prior vintages.
The good news is that we managed to pick some premium fruit prior to these adverse conditions for the production of our first sparkling wine which will become available early in 2006. We anticipate that through expert wine making techniques this vintage of our table wines to be of a good standard albeit low in alcohol levels.

Vintage 2003: Summer 02/03 was a scorcher and with it came the bush fires in the north-east of the State. This followed our worst year of drought conditions when for the first time in 7 years, our dam failed to fill up. Fortunately for us, at the time of harvest, we were down to the bare minimum of water to see out our vintage. The bush fires were far enough away not to taint our fruit. We harvested our Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes at the end of March and early April and our Pinot Meunier and Merlot grapes mid April. Our Chardonnay vines are approaching full maturity and are producing close to 5 tons to the acre. We sold large parcels of Chardonnay grapes to two well known wineries in Mansfield and the Yarra Valley. Following the impact of a spring frost, we gave special attention this vintage, to our Pinot Noir vines, which required bunch thinning, resulting in quality fruit being harvested. Our Pinot Meunier crop from vines planted out in 1997 has delighted our winemaker who is experimenting technically to produce an exceptional fruit driven wine. All our Merlot fruit was made into a straight varietal. Total fruit tonnage picked this vintage 30 tonnes.

Vintage 2002: Approx 20 tonnes of all our varieties (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Merlot) were harvested with the help of contract pickers and again, friends and family. Our very first vintage of Pinot Noir was a hit and has now been sold out. Hand management of this variety (ie bunch thinning) was the key to quality fruit and this still continues. The cool climate assists in concentrating flavours and our Chardonnay is proving to be our flagship wine. Our Melot was blended with our winemakers Cabernet Sauvignon named “Thelma Vendy”, after Malcolm’s late mother.

Vintage 2001: 10 tonnes of Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier were picked this vintage which resulted in the Kinloch Chardonnay and Unwooded Chardonnay and a magnificent fruit driven Pinot Meunier – our very first. Chardonnay fruit was picked in mid March while the Pinot Meunier was picked in late April when the berries were shriveled to concentrate flavours. A small parcel of Merlot was picked which went into the making of a Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc/Merlot Blend named “Mary Friend”, after Malcolm’s late grandmother. Our Pinot Noir was affected by the frost.

Vintage 2000: Our very first vintage of Chardonnay – we picked approx 3 tonnes of fruit to produce our Kainui Estate label. Friends and family assisted us with the picking and had lots of fun. The birds had a feast on our pinot meunier!

Vintage 2008

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