The Vintage

This was a warm year with it looking like being an early vintage until we had a week long hot spell and the vines seem to shut down. This deferred vintage to being that of an average year. It was an average year for quantity and the full flavoured wines of this year are predicted to be good keeping wines.

Sauvignon Blanc

The 2001 Sauvignon Blanc has a fruity herbaceous nose that is obvious from the beginning but changes with time. The rich colour reflects the selected and achieved ripeness typical of 2001 wines. This wine has an extremely complex palate showing big fruits and acids with a full mouth feel. It is a bit richer than other years but is still a very well balanced wine.

This wine drinks extremely well now but will cellar for 8 years plus.

 

Chardonnay

The 2001 Chardonnay nose is showing complex fruit and oak with nutmeg and peach overtones. The palate is full and flavoursome with all components integrating well. The melon and peach flavours blending with the slight spiciness from the oak work together to produce a lingering full rounded finish.

Cellaring potential 10 years.

 

Gamay

The nose of the 2001 Gamay displays nice blueberry and mulberry fruit with all spice and white pepper. This carries through onto the palate with the complexity of all flavours combining to produce a rounded well balanced finish. The wines extra time in bottle this year gives it the savoury flavours that our Gamay is well known for.

Cellaring Potential 8-12 years.

 

Havelock Hill Shiraz

The nose of the 2001 Shiraz is at first a bit closed but patience will reveal spicy dark fruit combined with a whisper of white pepper. The palate shows more weight with black pepper and prunes being the dominant flavours. This wine is well balanced with excellent tannin and acid structure.

 

Cabernet Sauvignon

The nose of this wine is exquisite. The incredible aroma of blackcurrant and blueberries combine well with the moderate overtones of the distinctive oak. The palate is a combination of the above with good acid and fine grain tannins, creating a full bodied well structured wine with a long lingering intense palate.

Cellaring potential of 10 years plus.