Simon’s Vintage 2018 Wrap Up

15 May Simon’s Vintage 2018 Wrap Up

It has been solid couple of months in the Montara vineyard and winery – we can officially say that vintage 2018 is now done and dusted!

Albeit a slightly smaller than average harvest, the quality across the board was outstanding. At this stage, the stand out varieties look to be Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling. Lovely concentration, aromatics and elegance. A very happy winemaker indeed!

A stellar quality year like 2018 ensures that we can release some extra special small batch wines for our newest project at Montara, the ‘Single Vineyard’ range. These wines are a reflection of all that we strive to achieve, breaking down our best blocks and making wines in ultra small quantities to showcase our unique site.

We really look forward to sharing these wines in the coming years.

The magnificent changing colours in the vineyard tell us that winter pruning is only just around the corner, ensuring that we set up the vineyard carefully, providing the architecture and foundations for the start of another growing season. This task generally takes two months of toil in the depths of our very cool Grampians winter.

In the winery we are also beginning to assemble and blend the 2017 reds from small oak. This rigorous selective process of bench blending, followed by blending in the cellar ensures that the upcoming Montara releases realise their full potential. There will also be a few new ‘Single Vineyard’ wines from 2017, so stay tuned! I feel that they could be the best of our wines yet…

Regards,
Simon Fennell
Winemaker