The 2016 growing season was interesting – at the start we had everything the weather man could throw at us. Rain during flowering (not good), prolonged low temperatures and more rain during veraison (not good). Our friendly banter about yields turned in to pained expressions. Then heading into late August and early September and we had, through until the first few days of November, the most glorious weather we could ever wish for. The vines lapped it all up and, while we had small bunches, produced incredibly sweet fruit. We had record sugar readings and the fruit was fully ripe. Both hard to get in this marginal wine making region. Our winemaker Ben smiled a lot. Yields were low but the quality is great. What more can we ask for. This year we will make our Classic sparkling again and the still rosé, forming the backbone of our range. But we also hope to make one or two different sparkling wines – still slightly on the drawing board but all will be revealed here soon.