RED wine will be the highlight of this year’s Shoalhaven Coast Winter Wine Festival, with local vineyards making the most of the long, hot summer.
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Rosie Cupitt from Cupitt’s Winery in Ulladulla said this year’s harvest had been low yielding for the white varieties, but the reds were looking good.
“The reds are all coming in now and we are really excited with the Indian summer as it is producing beautiful fruity flavours and the yield is good,” she said.
“We expect the 2013 wines will be fabulous when released in a year.”
Mrs Cupitt said she was looking forward to the wine festival being held during the June long weekend.
“For the festival we will be releasing some new red and white wines, including a Sangiovese for the first time and our new estate grown Semillon,” she added.
During the festival Cupitt’s will have live music, Cornish scones and cream morning and afternoon teas and mulled wine all weekend.
It will also have its popular long table lunch on Sunday.
Fern Gully Winery at Termeil experienced what owner Glenda Staniford described as “a fairly unusual growing season”
“It was very dry, apart from two days of heavy rain at the end of January and a week of heavy rain at the end of February,” she said.
“We also had two extremely hot days of 45 degrees, which luckily did little damage because of afternoon cloud cover.
“Yields were low because of the dry weather during berry development, but the fruit was in excellent condition and so was not affected by the two periods of heavy rain.
“Ripening conditions during March have been excellent, with dry, warm and sunny weather.”
Mrs Staniford said the quality of the Rose, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chambourcin fermenting at the moment looked “excellent”, while there were plans to pick Shiraz next week.
During the wine festival, Fern Gully Winery will be continuing its usual program, with specially made gourmet pies from Hayden's Pies made with Fern Gully Chardonnay and fortified vintage Shiraz.
Mrs Staniford said 2012 wines would be available at the festival including Chardonnay, Rose, Shiraz, Chambourcin plus a 2008 fortified vintage Shiraz.
“Both dry reds received bronze medals at the 2013 South Coast Wine Show, with the Shiraz judged the best in its class,” she said.
In the lead up to the festival Cupitt’s is excited to have been included in Gourmet Traveller Australia’s Best Cellar Doors publication where it was named the star cellar door for the region.
Bawley Vale Estate, which has new owners, will open its doors during the festival, joining with 11 cellar doors over the three days hosting events including dinners, tours, winery talks, themed lunches, produce stalls and live entertainment in the vineyards on June 8,9 and 10.
This year’s Shoalhaven Coast Winter Wine Festival is set to be the best on record with producers keen to celebrate the 10th anniversary in style.