The late summer ripening period was quite cool and humid but remained very dry, with Margaret River only receiving 1mm of rain for the month of January. Although the conditions were cool, the grapes ripened very quickly and our 2005 vintage began with our earliest ever harvest on 21 February. A small batch of Clone 96 Chardonnay commenced proceedings and we then harvested nearly every day for the next two weeks. The perfect conditions saw the vineyard team working around the clock, handpicking and de-netting by day and machine-picking at night.

The reds, however, were moving more slowly, until a couple of well timed 38 degree days hurried them along. We started with some Merlot and a couple of early Shiraz blocks. By late March we had harvested all the Shiraz, nearly all of the Merlot and a significant proportion of the Cabernet Sauvignon. This was good timing as the 10mm of rain forecast for 31 March turned into 60mm! Once again we had to wait for the remaining fruit to shed the water as the uptake of such a large volume of water temporarily dilutes the grapes flavours. Harvest recommenced one week later with the fruit still in excellent condition and possesing bright fresh fruit flavors. Final harvest was on 14 April with some Petit Verdot.

It was certainly a vintage where good vine management was handsomely rewarded, and 2005 was another outstanding vintage for Voyager Estate across all varieties. In a season where we didn’t get the classic Indian Summer, this was of great benefit as all of our fruit was harvested and fermenting away in the winery before the weather closed in.