The 2018 vintage is now a couple of months behind us and will probably be more remembered for quality rather than quantity. A severe November frost was most unwanted, but like with all aspects of nature, there is little you can do.
Our vineyards all have overhead frost protection sprinklers, but even these didn’t completely hold the frost at bay, such was its’ severity. So while the yields were lower than we might have hoped for, the quality was certainly up.
Of thoughts more sober, we were grateful for the fruit we picked as a lot of growers in the region lost a complete years’ work.
As has been for the last number of years, it looks as though the fruit which Flint’s has supplied to our wine companies will once again end up in the higher styles of wines produced by those companies.
Our own wines have finished going through their various stages of ferment, have been transferred to barrels and are home in our barrel shed.
Both these Cabernet and Shiraz wines are looking in great shape.
So with vintage done and dusted, pruning saws and trimmers are the standard for the day.
In between all these going-ons some replanting of some of our vineyards will continue.
