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Wine Information
A wine nearly ruined by Elaine, Vance and Gwenda. They are not disgruntled pickers or abstemious neighbours but three tropical cyclones, each of which threatened to create havoc in the region. As I said, someone upstairs likes this place, as all three turned away and did nothing more than toss down a little intermittent rain. Sadly, the same could not be said further north, where the full force of the weather Gods was felt. Prior to this, January and February offered cool temperatures with southerly winds, followed by a lengthy warm period. Vanya described it as “the most glorious Indian summer, which lasted for weeks and produced one of the best red wine vintages of the decade”.
Yields were low – 1.9 tonnes/acre for the Cabernet, 2.3 for Merlot and 2 for the Franc. Harvest was late February - early March for the Cabernet and March 4 for the others. The alcohol crept up to 14%. The oak regime was 18 months, with 50% new. This was the first vintage to see the addition of Petit Verdot, albeit only 1%, from the Mangan Vineyard. The remainder was 74% Cabernet, 20% Merlot and 5% Franc.
Vintage 1999
Australia Vintage Report:1999 also had a dry winter in Australia, with average temperatures for all months. However, there were a considerable amount of drizzly days at harvest time, causing some headaches with varieties susceptible to Botrytis cluster rot, ie. Grenache. It cleared up and the wines produced were all closed and slightly below average intensity. They look better and better.