Vintage 2017

was a season of variability, with some of the earliest starts to warm weather and shoot growth we have seen; a terrible ski season gave us something at least. What we thought an impending warm season then turned continuously on its head, wind was the prevalent currency early on combined with cooler night time temperatures. Fruit set was extremely variable with some shatter, January then gave us cooler than normal temperatures which all resulted in slower than normal fruit development, this was then followed by a long dry in February, crop size and berry size were all significantly lower than normal which, whilst hurting the bottom line, saved the season as the cooler temperatures and slow season could only ripen a reduced amount in any case. Berries interestingly enough contained few seeds so less structure whilst the smaller sizes gave more concentrated flavours.