2006 Growing Season and Vintage Report - by Steve James
Immediately after the fruit was harvested in the 2005 season the weather seemed to take a turn for the worse. May and June were cold and wet with a record 22 mini tornadoes tearing through the South West. July 2005 saw exceptionally dry and cold conditions causing several frosts, uncommon in Margaret River. Overall, however, the winter season was cold and wet, providing conditions that set the Voyager Estate vineyard up for a normal budbreak, commencing with Chardonnay in early September.

The spring growing season could best be described as difficult. With consistently windy, cool and damp weather, canopy management and disease control were critical to avery any problems. While the vines grew strongly due to the moisture available to them, these conditions set flowering back by two weeks, resulting in poor fruitset across most varieties. Bunch sizes were very small and it became apparent early on that yields would be substantially less than targeted.

Little doubt existed amongst grape-growers that the ever-reliable Margaret River summer would speed things up. However, the statistics show that Hobart had a warmer first week of December than did Perth, and overall it was the coldest summer since 1959! As a result, the season fell further behind with veraison occuring 3 weeks later than normal across most varieties.

Sunshine and warm weather finally arrived to ripen the fruit in early March and continued into April, the saviour of an otherwise difficult season. Harvest commenced 2 weeks later than average with Chardonnay, with yields much lower than targeted at an average of 2 tonnes per Hectare. For the first time all Voyager Estate Chardonnay fruit was handpicked, resluting in wines of amazing elegance, incredible power and lovely minerality.

Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon excelled in the cooler and later season. Low yields produced wines with wonderful palate weight and stucture. The Sauvignon Blanc fruit displayed characters of gooseberries, lychees and white peaches, while the Semillon fruit showed classic citrus and straw/hay characters. Chenin Blanc yields were 50% below target and similarly as a result produced wines with superb weight and flavour profile.

The Shiraz, also extremely low yeilding, was harvested 3 weeks later than average showing typical dark berry fruit characters with more pepper and spice due to the cool and extended ripening season.

Merlot is nota variety that Margaret River is particularly well known for, however this season produced the most outstanding Merlot seen from the Voyager Estate vineyards. The fruitset was very even and the low yields contributed to fruit with deep plummy flavors and lovely fine and ripe tannins.
The last variety harvested was Cabernet Sauvignon with yields averaging 3 tonnes per hectare, approximately 50% below targets. Being a late ripening variety, a cool season such as 2006 may have proved a problem in ripening this variety, however the low yields proved a blessing, enabling the vines to ripen their small load before the rains started on Anzac day. These low yields also contributed to the deep concentration displayed, along with classic dark cassis fruit and fine chalky tannins.

In conclusion 2006 would best be described as a very challenging year viticulturally that was rewarded with a glorius spell of Autumn ripening weather conditions. It was a season where focused vine management was essential, and from a wine quality perspective, some oustanding wines have been produced at Voyager Estate.