2025 Vintage Notes

2025 Vintage Notes

The biggest thing about the 2025 vintage is how amazingly dry it has been. McLaren Vale is up around 160 days without recorded rainfall at this point (17/04/25) so we are talking realdry. And while we’ve had a few dry years recently, they have still been relatively cool generally speaking, so we haven’t really seen the magnified effect like we’ve seen this year with normal amounts of heat along with the drought. It’s really thrown a spin on this vintage. Harvest started for many producers in January (!) and followed by many comments from old timers about never seeing fruit harvested this early. A forecasted hot stretch early in February scared a few producers into harvesting before the heat, and I think those that did probably regretted it, from a quality perspective. I think one thing that our warming climate has turned on it’s head is the order of harvesting in McLaren Vale. This year was early – yes. But even in the past few years that haven’t been as hot/dry as this year, I’ve noticed that the order of varieties that show up in the winery has changed. Even 15 years ago, you could count on all your whites coming in mid Feb, then your Shiraz’s would start from out towards the water near Sellicks and into Willunga, and then Shiraz would slowly work it’s way up in elevation and away from the water, and Grenache and Cabernet would start back out at Sellicks come mid-March, etc. There was order. It was consistent. Now – you’re picking Cabernet in January and Grenache in Blewitt Spring in Feb and Shiraz in Tatachilla in mid-March. It’s way more random than it used to be, and in a short period of time. This is called ‘vintage compression’, and it’s a big deal. You see – wineries set up all this infrastructure to process grapes. A winery’s capacity is not how much they process in a season though. Because wineries harvest grapes that are different varieties and from different sub regions or regions, they can control the flow of grapes though the winery. A medium sized commercial winery might be able to handle 200 tons of fruit at one time. Eight x 30 ton fermenters and various smaller capacity fermenting tanks, etc. You get the idea. Now a ferment in one of those big tanks might take 10-12 days, maybe less if you are in a hurry. But if you total crush for the year is 1000 tons, you’ll need to turn over your fermentation capacity 3 or 4 times throughout harvest to be able to get to your crush total. So all of this planning and infrastructure is set up to be able to manage a vintage that progresses slowly from Feb to April. When it doesn’t, and it all happens early and fast, and without rhyme or reason, you get into trouble. If the grapes are ready to be harvested, but you have nowhere to put them, then you have to leave them on the vine till you have the space. Of course, this affects the quality of the grapes, so it’s not a good outcome. This is something we are seeing more and more of, and it’s what we call vintage compression. There isn’t a good solution either – wineries can’t be expected to invest more capital on capacity and space/land for things they use for 4 weeks of the year, just so they have some extra space for the grapes when they are ready. This is where using varieties that are better suited to our warming climate comes into play. Growing grapes that like heat and are more drought resistant is potentially a way to mitigate some of these effects. Convincing consumers that they should be drinking those varieties and not just Cabernet and Shiraz will be the key.

Ok – so now to our vintage.

Lacey Fiano

Vintage started on the 10th of February, which I clearly remember as it caused me to miss my Superbowl party. We harvested 2 tons of Fiano from Ben Lacey’s Tatachilla vineyard. Ben is a great grapegrower and you can really see it in his vineyards. The Tatachilla vineyard had a really healthy canopy and perfect, tight little bunches of Fiano. Acid/sugar balance was spot on and as I always say it’s a testament to having the right variety planted in the right place when the fruit shows up at the winery and you don’t have to do anything to it. Just stay out of the way. Fermented on solids in tank and in a 500L puncheon. Racked and back into tank/barrel.  

Shadow Creek Grenache

Harvested on the 17th of Feb. Really early harvest date for McLaren Flat, and in fact I had them hold back the picking date almost a week, as the sugar/acid balance just wasn’t quite there. The fact that it was even considered being picked around the same time as our Fiano shows the strangeness of this vintage. One thing though that was clearly visible in a growing season like this, was how obvious it was to see what vineyards and/or varieties were planted in the right spot and which weren’t. This Shadow Creek vineyard is surrounded on both sides by two irrigated Shiraz vineyards. This year, in mid-February, these two Shiraz vineyards were losing their canopies, leaves were already turning yellow, the bunches were unhealthy and starting to wither, and they just looked like they were falling over. In between these two vineyards, the Shadow Creek vineyard, planted in 1928 and unirrigated, stands like a beacon of light. Super healthy, big canopy; big, tight bunches; fully ripe and balanced. This vineyard is planted on sand, and back when it was planted there was of course, no such thing as irrigation. As the soil is very porous and loose, it allows the roots of the vines to push deep into the ground, and gives it access to water in even the driest of years. With irrigated vineyards, their roots stay near the surface, as that’s where the water is, so they never get that deep. Consequently, in a dry, or series of dry years, they suffer much more and aren’t equipped to handle the drought as well as the vines with deep root systems. 2025 is a great year to highlight what vineyards are planted in the right spots. I always like to say: it’s not that old vines make better wines, it’s that better sites make old vines.    

Bottin Sangiovese

Harvested on the 18th of Feb. We were very pleased to be able to get 1.5 tons of Paul Bottin’s Sangiovese from out towards the Sellicks Foothills. There is more clay in the soil out this way, and along with irrigation helps the soil hold on to water better. The Sangiovese really does well in this soil, and Paul’s fruit shows it. Darker colour than most Sangio from around the Vale (Brunello clone), with medium sized bunches and good juice/skin ratios.

Wait ‘Sandy Corner Block’ Shiraz

Picked on the evening of March 3rd. The Sandy Corner Block is this interesting little amphitheatre of a vineyard – almost like a little bowl, where over hundreds of thousands of years, the terrain has collected sand – probably from a combination of the ocean washing up at that elevation at one time, and from river off-flows from the Adelaide Hills. Regardless of why, they vineyard is full of this beach-like sand. It’s something we hear about all the time in Blewitt Springs with old Grenache vineyards, but we hear a lot less about it with Shiraz. However, with these old vineyards it has the same effect, with the roots pushing deep to access water. As I’ve mentioned with the previous vineyards, these old vineyards are resilient, and just keep ticking on when the going gets tough (or in this case, dry). Really nice bunches, small but healthy berries, will make really nice wine this year.

Smart Grenache

We had two picks out of Wayne Smart’s famed Grenache vineyard in Clarendon this year: the 3rd of March and the 7th. Both picks have come from the 1955 plantings. Small bunches, and generally a small crop load led to a bit less fruit for us out of this vineyard this year. However, as I always say to Wayne, I’ll take whatever he gives me and say, “Thank you sir”. This fruit is always incredible, and even once it gets into the winery, it just ticks along at it’s own pace, never gets excited (or hot), and never needs much. Just a couple plunges per day. I’m very lucky to be able to source fruit from this iconic vineyard, and it’s a pleasure to walk those vines and be part of the living register of it’s history. I just try to stay out of the way and let the grapes do their thing.

Wait Grenache

Picked March 5th. The Wait vineyard ‘Top Block’ is where we source our Grenache from, and the soil is a bit loamier and denser than is typical for Blewitt Springs, and this really dry year didn’t do any favours for this vineyard. That’s not to say it’s not going to make great wine this year – quite the opposite actually. Small berries and not many bunches should lead to some fantastic wines. There just won’t be very much of it! Really low yields this year in the top block, which I don’t like to see as the Wait’s work all year to get these grapes in good shape and when there aren’t many fruits of their labour (literally), it’s not great for them. But it might be for you!  

Lacey ‘Bush Vine’ Grenache

Harvested on the 7th of March. Our last pick for the year, and it’s in the 1st week of March. What a crazy season. A new vineyard for us, but as we have sourced other fruit from Ben Lacey for many years, we went with him for some of his bush vine Grenache on Olivers road, between d’Arenberg and Olivers Taranga. These vines are only about 15 years old, but they’ve been meticulously maintained by Ben, as bush vines (especially in their youth) really need a lot of attention. Grenache as young vines really need to have the youth thrashed out of them, as they push really hard with tons of canopy and big bunches. This leads to grapes that are good for rosé, but not much else. So, with this block, Ben carefully maintains effective crop levels to ensure that crop loads are manageable for the vine, and then we get grapes that are going to make quality red wine.