Vintage 2018

was the season that made you realise that if climate change wasn’t real then neither were you. September arrived with only a hint of what was to come, some unusually warm weather with a small bout of heavy rain. We then had 4 successive months of the warmest temperatures on record, amazing. In living memory the only time we have ever  slept with the doors and windows open night after night after night, the entire summer. Water was scarce, irrigation was a necessity to keep plants alive, everything was fruitful. Just as we started to panic that we would see no cold temperatures, from which our regional flavours and aromas are derived, we saw February start with a wintery blast and go cold then March followed in similar fashion. The season was saved essentially with the wines having markers of a warm year but still some trademark central fruit and vibrancy.