A note from Chief Winemaker – Xanthe Hatcher

I am extremely pleased to see our 2021 Audrey Wilkinson whites released and on sale to our members.

Vintage 2021 began with ideal conditions – after the horror bushfires of 2019/2020 and four consecutive years of drought, the rain started falling!  Above average rainfall meant that ground water levels were back up and our dams were full.  Budburst began in early August and signalled the start of a new growing season and the opportunity to put the past year behind us.  The rainfall continued and the valley was a beautiful lush green throughout the season.  By late December and early January there was some anxiety amongst our team that the rain would not stop and it would again jeopardise our vintage, but then a miraculous thing happened,  in the second week of January the skies cleared and we had near perfect conditions for the following 3 weeks.   Our vintage began on the 18th of January with Verdelho the first fruit off our vineyard, the rest of the fruit came in steadily throughout January and early February.  wrapping up a very rewarding season for our vineyard team.

The cooler conditions means that the wines from 2021 retained good acid levels and lower alcohol levels that we have seen over the past few drought years.  They are in my opinion back to the style of traditional Hunter wines – medium weight and elegant.  They are wines that we are very proud to release and we hope that you all enjoy!