vintage report 2006
The 2006 vintage will be remembered as the coldest on record. We didn’t experience temperatures over 30°C until February, a rare occurrence.The cool conditions meant that vintage was delayed by about 3 weeks and yields significantly reduced, and whilst the region had another drought year with rainfall about 50% down on the average, there was constant drizzle through vintage which gave rise to a very challenging season with regards to disease pressure.
Warmer weather finally arrived in March and April giving the later ripening varieties such as Cabernet a chance to achieve ripeness, which thanks to the lower fruit loads they were able to achieve.