21st March 2011, from Travis French:

We’ve had an amazing vintage and are glad to be in the “cooler” southern part of the Margaret River wine region as relatively speaking we have had a very hot, dry and sunny summer season. The hot and dry weather has produced excellent quality fruit requiring minimal input other than extra irrigation.

Acidity levels and fruit flavours are excellent and we are expecting the results once wines are ready to taste will show that we have had the 5^th excellent vintage in a row. Our Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon is all in about 2 weeks earlier than usual. Yields are relatively low but up about 10% on 2010. Red varieties are being harvested over the next week or two, about 3 weeks ahead of usual."

Photos to follow . . .