Overall the vintage is very solid with great colour, good fruit intensity and ripeness. The fruit was clean and hung well compensating for the compression of vintage. Whites came with good natural acidities this year and show a lot of freshness and tang, with fine fruit flavours.

The reds all have outstanding colour, facilitated by a very homogeneous veraison and small berry size this year combined with milder ripening conditions later in vintage. Interestingly Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot have all performed well this year, Merlot in particular does not like seasons that are cool or too hot and generally only performs well in the milder years. The wines are medium bodied with good fruit definition and are reminiscent of the 2012 vintage. Coonawarra definitely benefited again from the cooling influence of the Bonney Upwelling in 2016, allowing longer hang time and a better photosynthetic environment later in the season, particularly for Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.

Another very good vintage in a run of good vintages since 2012.