Vintage Summary 1997

The vineyard first started cropping in 1995 so for most of the Pinot Noir this was the third harvest (apart from 25 cases bottled and labelled Felton Road from the 1995 vintage for an export trial to the UK - the 1995 and 1996 harvests were sold as grapes).

The summer of 1996/7 was very cool with fresh snow falling in the mountains right through January. This also brought significant rain and vegetative growth. The harvest didn?t start until April 20; still our latest to date. The wines have good acidity and a distinct herbal streak that has aged into a complex forest floor savoury character.