Coonawarra

2005 Coonawarra Vintage Report

• A predominantly dry growing season produced intensely flavoured varietal fruit.
• A cool and dry spring and summer allowed for a long, even ripening period.
• Fruit quality was excellent allowing Wynns Coonawarra Estate to make classic varietal wines.

2005 was an almost perfect vintage for Coonawarra with a lack of rain providing the chance to make classic varietal wines.

A wet winter, followed by a fine spring, promoted early budburst and excellent shoot growth, followed by early flowering. Late spring and summer were cool and dry with no periods of hot weather.

As a result, grapes ripened evenly and early with yields only slightly down on average. Riesling and Chardonnay were both picked over a period of time to allow for a range of flavours and blending options. The red wines all have good varietal character, rich flavours and generous tannins.

Wynns Coonawarra Estate Winemaker, Sue Hodder, considers the 2005 vintage an excellent year for quality fruit and is delighted with the characteristics of its fruit.

"2005 was an almost perfect vintage for Coonawarra with a lack of rain producing fruit that showed intensity with restraint providing the chance to make classic varietal red wines with rich flavours and generous tannins. It was an early ripening, slightly warmer than average year and as a result is characterised by darker fruit flavours, where as the 2004 vintage showed more of the red fruit spectrum."