2023- Grapes are in!

Growing Conditions and New Wines

With a cold winter and rejuvenating rain fall in 2022, the vines lay dormant longer than usual – which was most evident in that the vines didn’t flower for a almost a month behind when they did in 2022. With the soil recharged and the prospect of a slow harvest that would extend into the cooler month of Autumn, ToPe was poised for another stellar year with slow ripening fruit, fully developing flavour on the vine.

Once the fruit was on the vine, the long lazy summer afternoons saw the gradual ripening of the Riesling. Both vineyards looked remarkably different with the fruit carrying very different profiles. It was convenient the heavier block “The Dual Citizen” was exposed to the afternoon sun and ripened at the same time as the “100 Osmond” vineyard. This resulted in the harvester rolling into the “100 Osmond” vineyard on the 18th of March at 1am. Picking under a clear sky, it was a brisk start to the season. Immediately after this vineyard was picked, the harvest team moved directly to the other side of the valley and picked the Duel Citizen Riesling.

As the days have grown shorter, the red varieties have slowed their accumulation of sugar. From sampling the P&R Cabernet, the dark current flavours have emerged around the 12 baume (measurement of specific gravity) mark. Over a course of the following week, we tasted a dramatic increase in flavour while only increasing slightly in baume. The high-altitude vineyards that TOPE utilize have been a blessing as the small rain events have had simply drained off the vineyards and left the fruit bright and disease free.

The “P+R” Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard high on the eastern ridge held up its canopy nicely, shading the fruit from the heat of the day and allowing the setting afternoon sun onto the bunches to help them ripen the grapes which were picked on April 11th. 

Our new Old Vine Grenache block that is bush grown has very open and sprawling canopy. We are calling the vineyard “Showgrounds” as this vineyard is perched on the hills overlooking the Clare Showgrounds. This hilliside location allowed the Valley breeze to circulate and kept the disease pressure down naturally which allowed for the grapes to hang a bit longer to develop flavours.  The grapes were hand harvested on Monday, April 25th.

The 1921 planted Mataro vines with their deep and established roots have been resilient to the weather events. The small bunches with their thick skins are still filling and are looking like they will produce a concentrated and aromatic wine.  The intensity of the fruit is promising and we are so exciting about the potential of the wine we will be able to make.  The grapes were hand harvested on Sunday, April 24th.