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2010 vintage

The 09-10 growing season began with much better sub soil moisture then we had had for the previous 10 years. The Hilltops area does not draw any water from any River System and so is most reliant on natural rainfall events over the winter period to fill storage dams.

We were able to miss most of the frost events that where detrimental to surrounding regions, although some lower areas had minimal damage. There was a large hail storm in October that literally wiped the crop from some vineyards on the Western and Northern sides of the Hilltops, however this was quite localized. The season progressed well with enough soil moisture until early December when some very hot dry weather affected the flowering in some vineyards. This seemed particularly detrimental to the Cabernet. The vineyards that had been stressed over the past few years seemed to be affected the worst during this spell and crop losses of up to 50% where not uncommon.

The harvest progressed well with average to slightly below average yields of white varieties and the early blocks of Shiraz. A large fall of rain around this time meant that any blocks of Shiraz that where not harvested did show at least some signs of Botrytis, unless very well protected. The Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot was not affected by the rain and some great samples of these wines will be in the market shortly. 

The vintage began in late February which is getting back to a more typical vintage of the years pre drought. The vintage was short and quick until the rain which then delayed things for a couple of weeks with most of the vintage finished just prior to or just after Easter. 

Yields varied greatly from blocks that are typically dry land grown to blocks that are fully irrigated. Our dry land blocks where as low as 2T/Ha with irrigated blocks going around the 9T/Ha mark. The standout varieties were Shiraz pre rain, and some great examples of Cabernet. The Nebbiolo that came off early was also a standout.

 2006 vintage

Hilltops growers report that 2006 proved a challenging vintage.

Temperatures in spring were below average, however those in January through March were well above. This, coupled with heavy rainfall through spring and early summer, followed by a return to drought conditions, necessitated diligent vineyard management.

While production was down slightly, growers were pleased at the high quality of the grapes. Importantly, all Hilltops grapes grown were both harvested and sold, at a time when thousands of tonnes were left unpicked or unsold around Australia. This emphasises the high regard that winemakers have for Hilltops fruit - even in times of oversupply.

2005 vintage

After a very dry winter with only 165 millimetres of rain, spring arrived and the pattern of dry weather continued all the way to harvest. The dry conditions were ideal for grape growing where irrigation water was available but a third successive dry year created major problems for dryland (non-irrigated) vineyards. These weather conditions created a largely disease-free season.

The dry conditions produced very good quality shiraz, with excellent colour. Crop levels were slightly lower than the previous vintage. Excellent Cabernet Sauvignon was produced, which had an intense concentration of flavours, though tonnes were low.

Most whites came on early due to the high slightly stressed conditions but good quality berries were harvested.

The season ended by many growers having a superb late ripening conditions with harvest extending to late April/early May.