Autumn Newsletter 2010

It was a very short and hectic vintage for Mistletoe this year. Although we experienced some very hot weather in November, we had a milder December with the weather turning decidedly cooler between Christmas and New Year, with about 10 days of drizzling rain.

Unusually, the grapes kept ripening quickly throughout that cooler spell, with Mistletoe commencing harvest on January 23rd.

We then just kept harvesting every day with all the Hunter grapes in the winery by the end of January.

It then started to rain in early February with disastrous results for some poor growers who have now not harvested a crop for 3 years in a row.

Our winemaker, Nick Paterson, could not be more happy with the quality of the Hunter grapes we have harvested this year. He believes the Semillons and Chardonnays are as good as the best we have previously made, if not better!

We received our grapes from our contracted vineyards in Young (Hilltops) early March. The fruit arrived in excellent condition with the rain in Young commencing just after the truck with our grapes had left for the Hunter.

The Shiraz from both the Hunter and Hilltops looks exceptional again this year.

With Mistletoe’s constant aim to improve the quality of the wines we make, we have moved to much lower cropping levels in the vineyard.

One of the real positives of this approach is that the lighter cropping vineyards ripen better fruit earlier without stressing the vines.

We believe this is why we had already harvested prior to the rain in both the Hunter Valley and Hilltops.

The good rain following vintage has left the Hunter looking green and vibrant. It has also provided the vines with excellent post harvest growing conditions.

This post harvest growth sets the vines up for the following vintage restoring the depleted levels of minerals and nutrients consumed in producing the crop just harvested.

The current warm and dry spell is just wonderful.

Autumn in the Hunter is a great time of year!

We hope to see you here at Mistletoe soon.

Regards
Ken and Gwen Sloan.

Autumn Sunrise at Mistletoe