Over the weekend of July 17-18, visitors had a chance to view the bottling of Treeton Estate’s  2009 vintage reds and 2010 vintage white and rose wines.  The showery weather did not interfere with a highly successful operation.  Many thanks to everyone, as the winery team supported the highly efficient Maurice Lay and Peter Laslett from MAP On-Estate Bottling Services.

The vintage 2009 reds have responded superbly to the new American oak barrels that we provided this vintage.  The Cabernet Sauvignon is tasting rich beyond its age but unfortunately, the limited volume will restrict distribution of this already beautiful wine.

In addition to our usual Shiraz release, we have responded to growing interest in single vineyard wines by crafting a wine from grapes sourced entirely from the 24 year old vines in our Valley Block.  We look forward to feedback on this stunning new wine after it is released in 2011.

Treeton Estate’  2010 vintage whites are the unwooded Chardonnay and the Sauvignon Blanc Semillon (SBS) blend that won so many converts with the 2009 release.  David is very excited about the Chardonnay – watch this space!

We have used the 11-year old Shiraz grapes from the Park Block for the 2010 Veronica (rose) – photo above.   We look forward to offering you a taste of the new version of this very popular wine.

We are pleased to announce that the inaugural winner of the Treeton Estate quarterly wine draw is Rod Hawkins of Rivervale, WA.

Rod selected a mixed case of the 2007 Shiraz and 2009 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon as his prize. When asked why he signed up to the Treeton Estate email list, Rod said:

I’ve been trekking down to the Margaret River Wine Region for years and have made a point of looking for the slightly out of the way places and smaller wineries rather than the big ‘commercial’ wineries. I’m definitely not a wine connoisseur, just an average person who knows what he likes in wines. My favourites are SSBs, Shiraz and Cab Savs hence the choice from your range.

My first taste of Treeton Estate wines was way back in the early ‘90s on a trip to Molloy Island with friends. We turned off the beaten track and found this little winery with a dog that performed tricks and a very friendly bunch of people who insisted we try their wines. I’ve been buying Treeton Wines ever since (not regularly mind you, but pretty well every time I get to Margaret River). I think it’s probably the personal touch that makes the wines so good as opposed to the mass-produced feel of the bigger wineries.

Thank you Rod for such a great story.

We look forward to pulling another winner from our email list in three months time.

The Treeton Estate vineyards have been harvested and wine production is well on track.   David considers this to be our best vintage of the last 5 years and we are feeling confident of some wonderful 2010 wines.

Our white grapes were harvested between 3 and 11 March. Crushed and pressed, these beautiful grapes are now undergoing fermentation to produce a Sauvignon Blanc Semillon and an Unwooded Chardonnay. The wines will be released towards September.

Our red grapes were harvested on 21 March. This year, these fabulous grapes followed two paths.

• The 12-year old vine Shiraz grapes were crushed and held overnight before a light pressing.  This lightest of pink must  is now under fermentation to produce a classic Shiraz rosé.  The wine will be released in 2010 under our Veronica label
• The  24-year old vine Shiraz grapes are destined to produce a single-vineyard wine that will be held on oak and cellared before release.  Our 2009 vintage will be the first release of this new premium line.
• In line with previous years, we will be producing a small volume of our well-respected 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.

We look forward to sharing these wines with you as they develop the complex characteristics that our beautiful grapes provide.

David’s careful charting of Baume levels for each grape variety in our vineyard allows him to predict – with some margin for error – when to lock in the harvest.  With the countdown now measured in days for the whites, our grapes are looking gorgeous.

This is the time when all  the paraphernalia of the vintage – the tractors, bins, crusher, press, pumps, hoses and refrigeration – need to be meticulously clean, carefully checked and working perfectly.

The contractors and friends of the winery must be booked and ready to go on the day.

Dealing with nature, we know that things can go wrong.  So we wait patiently and are hopeful of a great vintage.

john

We do appreciate the increasing interest from our customers and visitors in signing up to the Treeton Estate email distribution list.

To thank for your continuing interest in receiving news on special offers and our vintages, we are starting a quarterly draw, with free entry to our email list members.

The prize will be a carton of Treeton Estate wines, selected by the winner and delivered free within Australia.

Winners will be contacted to select their wines and to provide delivery instructions. We apologise to our overseas subscribers for restricting entry to those with an Australian delivery address.

If you think any of your friends or family would be interested, this is a great time to suggest that they join up.  Just ask them to enter their name and email address in the simple form at the top of the side-bar to the right.  They will then receive an invitation from us via Aweber – a service that we use to guarantee information security for our subscribers.

Please contact John at Treeton Estate if you have any queries regarding this email.

Over the first two weeks of January 2010, an unusual series of days over 40 degree Centigrade caused significant problems for some  grape growers in the Margaret River Wine Region.

Throughout the growing season at Treeton Estate , we carefully manage the vine canopy to minimise both problems with predatory birds and the risk of heat exposure to the young grapes.   While somewhat reducing total grape yield, this strategy has allowed our vineyards to come through the recent heat wave without damage to the young grapes (photo of the Chardonnay above).

The 2010 vintage is shaping up  to be another good one for ‘the cool heart of Margaret River‘.

This year, the warmer weather will allow us to harvest earlier than in 2009, but still well within the usual range of recent historical vintages.  We look forward to sharing the results with you as the whites are released mid-year