The Vineyard
There is something very special about the wines from Forest Hill. Part of this, of course, comes from the location. The vineyard is located in Mount Barker and the vines date back to original plantings made in 1965. This makes Forest Hill the oldest cool climate winery in Western Australia.
The Great Southern experiences diurnal temperatures (the significant difference between day and night time temperatures). Warm long day light hours coupled with the cool nights of the Great Southern harness ideal conditions for the production of cool climate wine styles.
At the time of establishment vineyard irrigation was not an industry consideration and all early plantings were ‘dry grown’ providing drought prevention and ensuring low yields. Forest Hill has retained this approach, believing it to be a major contributor to vine health and concentration of fruit flavour. The Forest Hill Vineyard is managed by our viticulturist Lee Haselgrove.
VINTAGE REPORT 2011
Vintage 2011 is nearly complete, and we are starting to theorize about how it will be remembered, and what will be the highlights. 2011 is a very hard year to describe with numbers (actually, they all are); although rainfall (Oct –April = 224 mm, tbc) has been slightly below the average for the growing season (278 mm), the dry spring has really defined the vintage for us at Forest Hill. Shoot growth was very slow throughout spring, and a lot of fruit thinning was required to balance crop load to vine and soil capacity in our aging, dry grown vineyard. Thankfully we were spared the frosts that affected much of the Great Southern region during October, in 2010 t was our turn for frost damage, hopefully we have earned a reprieve for a while now.
Temperatures have been slightly warmer than the elusive “average” for most months, although February was very cool. Slightly warmer than average, with BEDD of around 1450, however we haven’t had any really hot days (+35 0C), hence acidity levels have been naturally high, and fruit character seems very intense. In terms of similarity to a recent season, 2011 is probably closest to 2007, but there are significant differences.
Block 8 Chardonnay and Block 1 Riesling were hand picked in early March, these blocks are proven performers at the highest level, and every year we are excited about seeing the characteristics that the new vintage has contributed to them. Block 9 was hand harvested on the 31st March, we are making steady progress with the character and maturity of the skin tannins in this block, so we really look forward to the progression of this wine. Block 5 was hand harvested on the 14th April, the earliest harvest date since 2007. Skin maturity has been slow to develop in the Cabernet Sauvignon this year, however by harvest time the fruit was showing the distinct character that we have come to expect from Block 5.
It is really too early to make emphatic statements about 2011, it has certainly been a very good vintage, and we are content to let our wines reveal their opinion on the vintage in their own time.
Lee Haselgrove – Forest Hill Viticulturist
