Caledonia - Pinot Noir 2022

The 2020/21 growing season was framed early on by a block of 45 days from mid September that threw 20 rain days and about 170mm of rain at us in endless squalls of rain. Yes, it was a La Nina season but the descriptors of East Kulin seasons suited the season we had far better. The vines grew rapidly with looser, larger bunches than usual and we had to work hard to protect the constantly emerging leaves from disease. Poornet is a far better term for this version of spring. The typically short season of Buath Gurru gave us endless grass to mow and great difficulty maintaining order under-vine with the limited organic tools we use. By December we start to get a feel for the back half of the season and the likely harvest window with clues coming from kangaroo apples in the low country and tomatoes and the old jacaranda higher up. The tension between elegance and concentration was evident in the fruit with larger berries and shaded bunches causing us to trim and pluck – angling for as much concentration as we could bring. This was the first season since the Black Summer and it became evident early on the that the quantity and mix of birds had changed. Normally we wouldn’t net till we saw that the ravens feeding on grasshoppers were running out of food. The protein on the ground is much more compelling to them than a few partially veraised berries. This season was different. The quantity of ravens was beyond what our well trained magpies could handle and the job of chasing them away and keeping them moving was just too much to ask. We netted earlier than we wanted, knowing that getting vines netted in a high disease season had its risks. Ripening occurred slowly with occasional warm days introducing a thread of concentration into otherwise classically composed fruit.