WINELIST No. 60 Dear Mailing List Member, It feels a little strange to be writing this in the middle of the virus pandemic and after the summer that much of the Adelaide Hills has endured. When parts of the region were ravaged by bushfire, many of our grower and winemaker friends had their livelihoods challenged in a significant way. The Piccadilly Valley was spared from the horror and for this we consider ourselves extremely fortunate. Now we are faced with a different type of challenge that is not discerning and will impact on individuals, families and businesses across the world. I have no doubt that many of your favourite dining establishments who have been good supporters of Ashton Hills will struggle to keep their doors open and we all feel rather helpless in being unable to support them with our patronage. As I write, vintage is in full swing and Stephen and Liam have been making swift calls on getting the estate fruit in as optimum flavour/acidity balance is achieved. The crops are looking healthy, if a little on the light side due to the rather erratic growing season. But while yields may be down, the quality is looking very good. One area of the vineyard that we know will be unproductive are the four rows (400 vines) of old Martini (grafted on original planting cabernet) that we decided to replant last year. After observing both a decline in yield and quality from this patch over the last few years, Stephen gave his blessing to plant Entav828 from Cote D’Or (Dijon/Burgundy), which is a high quality/mid-yielding, clone.
We expect that at its peak it will provide around 10001200kgs of fruit or three barriques of wine. The clonal experimentation at Ashton Hills continues! I’m pleased to say that we have a few new releases to share with you – just in the nick of time, given their absence from the shelves. The 2019 Piccadilly Valley Pinot Noir, 2017 Vintage Rose Sparkling and the 2019 Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay are all now available. Keep an eye on our Facebook/Instagram/Website for the latest activities and news around when we can reopen our Cellar Door. Keep safe and hopefully it won’t be too long before we can welcome you back to Ashton Hills Vineyard. Cheers, Andrew Kay Managing Director
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