Chief Winemaker, Tim Shand, provides a season update from between the vines, as Mother Nature gains momentum and we move towards harvest.

"After a wet winter, we’ve had a bit of a stop, start lead into summer. We've had minimal days over 30 degrees (with a couple more coming up over Christmas by the looks!). It's been a mild spring and summer, with rainfall about average for this time of year. It feels similar to the run into the 2023 vintage, but starkly different to the last two years.

In terms of fruit set, we’re a couple of weeks behind last year, but the set itself is more consistent, and this bodes well for even ripening. Bunch size is encouraging, especially in the Chenin and Chardonnay.

A wetter spring and improvements to undervine weeding have given us lusher canopies in the Chardonnay, which will help maintain vitality in the wines. It's something we've been chasing. More leaf layers in the canopy poses some risks but we've been red hot on sprays this year and done some selective leaf plucking where necessary.

Early indications on vine pests like weevils are encouraging. Anecdotally the region is seeing less pressure (maybe the wet winter), but this is not to take away from our efforts in the vineyard – particularly around building vine health and resilience. Previously troublesome blocks have seen significant improvement with solid shoot growth and good pruning options for next year.

Specialised Cabernet Sauvignon canopy work is under way, particularly in the iconic North Block. We've begun ‘de-lateraling' (removing the tertiary leaf foliage around the fruit zone to allow more light and free-flowing air) and fruit thinning.

Most pleasing are the blocks that we took back to just a few buds in the pruning stage, to give struggling vines the opportunity to grow only 3-4 strong shoots this year. A vintage of little fruit for those blocks...but a chance to recharge. We are very happy with how they are responding.

In the winery, it’s an exciting time for Chardonnay. We’ve been tasting and blending the 2025 vintage, and whilst there won't be an MJW from this year, we are pleased to have three small batches we will bottle.

I'm pleased to say Broadvale Block 6 is back and looking excellent. The immediate transparency and fragility of this wine is misleading – it has hidden depth and power and will age as well as its forebears.

For (I think) the first time we will bottle a Chardonnay from clone 76. It has often played a small part in the MJW wines. Spur-pruned, and the most resilient to heat of the Dijon clone family, it showed a vitality in the vineyard that we are always looking for in our Chardonnay.

Lastly, we will be making a wine from Broadvale Block 10. This is the block where we pushed ripeness a little further, with a view to making a wine that turns the flavour dial up!

We have also blended the 2025 Voyager Estate Chardonnay. The lees have been taken into the blend and the wine will now sit on elevage in tank until bottling in July next year (6 months later than in the past). Our philosophy with maturing Chardonnay is maintaining freshness in oak through minimal lees stirring, larger barrels, bringing out of oak a little earlier, and giving the wine the time it deserves for these elements to integrate.

Excitingly, we also have our first Malbec to bottle in January. Broadvale One is starting to find its rhythm and the fruit shows perfume, vibrant fruit and supple tannin – it’s so beautiful we chose to bottle it as a single vineyard wine, and we've held back a few barrels for the Cabernets blend as well."