Heavy nor’west wind was frequent over the period of flowering of the grapes which impaired their pollination and lead to a small crop of grapes setting on the vines.  The rest of the season, however, was excellent with good heat accumulation over the summer and autumn.  The fruit was thus beautifully ripe and in optimal condition when harvested. 

Pollination of the grape flowers was affected by frequent strong, cool winds in late spring and early summer, resulting in a small crop of riesling grapes.  The rest of the summer was splendid and the autumn was warm, dry and lingering.  The berries became optimally ripe and flavoursome...

Waipara was buffeted by frequent strong winds in late spring and early summer which coincided with the period when the grapes were in flower.  It impaired pollination and thus quite markedly reduced the crop level.  The rest of the summer, however, was excellent and the autumn was warm, dry and lingering....

Prima Donna is only made in special vintages. The whole growing season was ideal apart from the period when the vines were in flower. This was the coldest and wettest December Waipara has ever experienced and as a result the number of berries setting was extremely low, resulting in the smallest crops we have seen. Because of this the wine has extra concentration and depth.

Waipara was buffeted by frequent strong winds in late spring and early summer which coincided with the period when the grapes were in flower.  It impaired pollination and thus quite markedly reduced the crop level.  The rest of the summer, however, and the autumn was warm, dry and lingering.  We were thus able to harvest beautifully ripened, flavoursome grapes which had retained good levels of natural acidity.

The 2006 growing season was longer than usual as mild spring weather resulted in early bud-burst; however this was followed by cool nights which prevented excessively rapid growth.  There was good accumulation of summer heat and a long, dry autumn.  Harvest occurred late in April, a little earlier than normal to retain elegance...

The growing season was longer than usual as mild, spring weather resulted in early bud-burst, but was followed by cool nights which prevented excessively rapid growth.  We had good accumulation of summer heat and a long, dry autumn.  Harvest was, as usual, in April. The fruit was beautifully physiologically ripe when picked, but yet had good levels of natural acid without excessive concentration of sugar...

A mild spring was followed by extremely hot weather over the early and middle parts of the summer which made us wonder whether we might lose varietal typicity.  Subsequently the weather moderated and the autumn was dry, lingering and warm...

The growing season was longer than usual as mild spring weather resulted in early bud-burst but was followed by cool nights, which prevented excessively rapid growth.  We had good accumulation of summer heat and a long, dry autumn...

Cool weather over late spring and early summer affected the pollination of the grape flowers and led to a marked reduction in the amount of fruit setting in our block of Mendoza Chardonnay, a clone which, even at the best of times, has only low crops...