Adelaide Hills Gruner Veltliner vintage 2014 – wrapup

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Hahndorf Hill Winery
  Adelaide Hills

Well, vintage 2014 is finally going to be put to bed in about two weeks’ time with the harvest of our Shiraz grapes. It has been an extraordinary year which saw an unusually cold start to the season – I recall lighting a fire one evening, five days before Christmas!

This cold start to summer had a huge impact on the flowering of the grapes with the end result being small crops with small, loose bunches comprised of small berries. This impact was generally felt right across the Adelaide Hills wine region, with growers reporting some of the smallest harvests on record.

The subsequent more dramatic weather events such as the heatwave in January/ February and the sudden heavy rainfalls of up to 150mm had relatively less impact in the vineyard. As far as I could see, it was only the small, chicken-berries, originally caused by that cold, that were damaged by the heat and rain.

Overall, although the crops were small, the quality has been fantastic and what we have sacrificed in yield, we have made up amply with quality. I expect this vintage to produce some of the most beautiful aromatic white varieties seen in years. And so far, although we have not picked all our reds, we are seeing great colour and flavour development.
In the winery, all ferments are running like clockwork with even the wild ferments roaring towards the finish line without a hitch. So all bodes well …

Gruner Veltliner in the Adelaide Hills Australia

Gruner Veltliner harvest at Hahndorf Hill – March 2014

And this finally brings me to the Gruner Veltliner harvest of 2014, which can be summarised as having small crops, intense flavours and exciting ferments.
Already the ferments are showing a complex and exciting mix of aromas and flavours from zesty, spicy grapefruit, through to tropical fruit salad and tobacco. This will be our 5th vintage of Gruner and the 2nd vintage that utilizes components from all six of our clones and clonal selections that we have growing at our Hahndorf Hill vineyard. (First batch of clones imported 2006 and second batch imported in 2009. )

Can’t wait to make up the final blend and get it into bottle!

To register for pre-release allocations of our 2014 GRU Gruner Veltliner and for further Gruner information – please go to http://bit.ly/XUJJct

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