Despite these uncertain times one thing I can always depend on is that no two
vintages are the same. Which makes it so much fun, there are always new
challenges for winemakers to wrap our heads around, and each one we navigate
adds to our repertoire of solutions for the next problem.
Vintage 2022 continued the recent trend of being a little warmer than the season
before, with a good dose of rain at the start of February; disease pressure was
relatively high with many reports of powdery mildew around the region, but luckily
our vineyards avoided any issues.
We saw high yields out of our Parkburn site, and even more so from our
contractors in Alexandra, while our Gibbston vineyards generated some of the
tiniest bunches I have seen in a long time but achieved perfect ripeness.
Overall, we had one of our biggest vintages ever, although happily I had such an
excellent crew working with me that it rarely felt like that. So we have plenty of
wine to go around, which should help redress some recent shortfalls in volume,
and I am happy to report that I am very pleased with everything currently sitting in
tank and barrel; the 2022 wines will be very worthy successors to the 2021s.
- Malcolm Rees-Francis, Rockburn Winemaker
