Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2009

VITICULTURAL NOTES

Semillon: The 2009 Semillon timed its run well, and came together perfectly right at the point of harvest. Both the sugar levels and the flavours of the berries improved rapidly in the last 48 hours before harvest, and the fruit in the harvest buckets was clean and blemish free. Early in the season was more challenging for the 2009 Semillon. Budburst was fairly uneven, and the early shoot growth was weak due to the cool and wet spring conditions. The eventual yield per vine was about 23% lower than usual in the Semillon, but this decline was less than was feared earlier in the growing season. While cool conditions and looper caterpillars significantly reduced the number of berries per bunch, the final berry size was only 6% lower than average. The Scott Henry section produced around 35% of the total crop, with a higher yield per vine, smaller berries, higher sugar at harvest and good berry flavour. Bunches in the Scott Henry also received good sun exposure during the growing season. As a result of these positive characteristics for Scott Henry in the Semillon, a further 5 rows have been converted for vintage 2010.

Sauvignon Blanc: As has been the case for the most of the last decade, the single block of vines was treated as four separate areas, each receiving different viticultural treatments. The principal variable in these treatments was the amount of sun exposure that the bunches received; this was manipulated by the choice of trellising (either Scott Henry or two tier VSP), the amount of shoot thinning, and the amount of leaf plucking and vine hedging. Generally the parcels were grown with slightly more leaf cover over the bunches than usual. There was a single pass with the leaf plucker on New Years Eve that was effective in opening up the canopy to sunlight, but prior to that the canopy was generally full and fairly shaded. None of the portions received a secondary leaf pluck (or an early season hand leaf pluck as has been applied in some years). In addition to the four parcels in the Sauvignon Blanc block, a fifth parcel of 2.9 tonnes was harvested from the grafted section of the Semillon block. The various parcels of fruit were harvested over three separate days, and provided a range of sensory attributes extending from herbaceous in the less ripe, more shaded portions, through to intense passionfruit and tropical fruits in the riper, more sun exposed areas.

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