Louis Latour Agencies

Vintage 2016: Seresin Estate's 20th Vintage

16 June 2016

Thank you to Seresin Estate for providing this overview of the 2016 vintage.

The 2016 winegrowing vintage at Seresin Estate will be remembered for a challenging cold start with a spectacular long summer.

A very long and constant frost fighting season ensured the team were under pressure from the start, with notable damage experienced across the valley. Frost events extended into the month of December and are extremely rare and potentially dangerous to the plants. Fortunately, damage at Seresin Estate was minimal, but the events were felt to impart a slower start to the plants' growing period.

Significant rain also increased disease pressure at a time when the tenderness of the new shoots makes them most vulnerable. Chardonnay in particular was susceptible, and some significant losses were felt with this variety. A greater level of attention was required by these vines and despite the overall volume being low, we are delighted by the quality of the fruit.

Towards the end of January we were predicting a later harvest than normal, but an intense long summer followed by a dry harvest period enabled us to deliver the fruit on-time, intact and without stress. The harvest itself was fast and furious, one of the most compact we have ever experienced. A focus to increase under-vine cultivation during the growing season has resulted in strength and vigour in the vines, with canopies staying longer than usual.

Our initial feelings about the 2016 wines are very positive.

The bunches for our dearest Pinot Noir were bigger than we've ever seen before, very much a reality of the exceptional season. We are expecting this will result in slightly more feminity in the wines, with less overt tannin structure. Over the next season we will be striving to improve the delicacy and poise in the top end wines with appropriate canopy and yield managements.

While you may hear Sauvignon Blanc yields were higher than usual across the district, we were right on target. The weather ensured we were able to capture vibrant fruit flavour-ripeness in the juice at lower sugar levels - and with not a hint of greenness. We are delighted once again that we have managed to grow grapes that reach optimum ripeness at lower potential alcohols. This is a big focus for Seresin Estate to reduce the alcohol without impacting on the quality.

Excitingly we ended the 2016 harvest with our first commercial crop of Syrah. Picked by the extended Seresin Estate team, this has been a project long in the making and we are very much looking forward to crafting a young vine wine.