Australian Wine News

Vincognita Wines vintage report 2008

by Peter Belej
(Nangkita, South Australia)

Even the frogs love Viognier

2008 Vintage by Vincognita at Nangkita Vineyards, Southern Fleurieu & McLaren Vale SA.

Another relatively dry winter at Nangkita still gave sufficient soil moisture for the vines to break early for a long growing season. Frost in spring can be a concern for some vineyards as cold air drains from the southern end of Mt Lofty Ranges, however this season was minor compared to the previous. Irrigation is rarely required until December and this season a little was applied mid December after fruit set. The summer was relatively mild , with January warm to hot as normal and February warm but not hot.

Our old Shiraz vines at McLaren Vale are so balanced with low yields and a good leaf number per bunch that they again ripened quite early in mid February with great intensity and flavour.

At Nangkita, the vines powered along and have ripened the grapes early for the second year in a row. Early March saw 2 weeks of extreme heat in South Australia, however Southern Fleurieu with milder heat and cooler night temperatures survived the heat relatively well with Shiraz especially showing intensity & richness.

The Primitivo (Zinfandel) showed great colour, acidity and strawberry fruit flavours. At Nangkita we have reduced irrigations since 2004 to force the vine roots to search deeper into the ironstone soils for water in an effort to gain more drought tolerance and improve grape flavours - we are very happy with the initial results over the past few seasons.

We pressed off the Shiraz in early April and then went on to pick the Viognier which is currently fermenting (17 April). The juice looked great with real green apple, ginger, apricot and mango flavours - another cracker in the making.

Congratulations on the site - I first planted Viognier back in 1994 when it was a curio, now its headed for mainstream.

Regards
Peter Belej.