Vintage Report 2017

It has to have been the most different vintage that Garbin Estate has experienced since taking on the premium wine making role after my father's retirement. It was a late start and late finish, rain, flooding, hot & cold weather and here we are looking down the barrel of  winter. According to industry reports this has been the same for most areas in Australia this year. I appreciate everyone's concern ( our vineyards and flooding in the area) but thankfully we only lost a couple Sangiovese rows due to weather extremes. We managed to pick out fruit before and after rains. This vintage Garbin Estate also made another quantum leap with our own grape harvester which also gives us more control of our picking times. Pictures/video were posted on Facebook/Instagram. Joel and Adam must be  commended for their unreserved application to driving/wash down of such a large vehicle. I don't think the local Gingin petrol station sees many harvesters driving in to fill up for diesel. Our vintage was slightly bigger than usual in terms of tonnage crush and thankfully Joel & Adam were in a position to commit full time to 2017. They have also put in a huge effort thus far including bottling in the middle of vintage and assisting me with a wine presentation for an unexpected trip to China early March(in the middle of vintage). Next is the winter/spring vineyard work which will be extensive as we have planted more Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon which all requires training and wires. We are also working closely with a second Chinese exporter of our wine. This opportunity is welcome particularly in an ordinary retail domestic market. As we tell our visitors, Garbin Estate Wines' first priority is always our cellar door customers. Looking forward to seeing you at our cellar door to try our extensive range of premium wines and especially the 2016 Cabernet Merlot of which I am particularly proud(see my Winemaker's Choice special). Regards, Peter Garbin