2011 Margaret River vintage report by Michael Kerrigan

The 2011 vintage in Margaret River, and across Western Australia in general, was remarkable if only for how completely different it was to the rest of Australia’s grape growing regions.  It has always been of some consternation to us in the West that the quality of Australian vintages is assessed on what happens in the middle and east of the country, with Western Australia so far away and influenced by completely independent weather systems we often experience vastly different conditions that shape the quality of our vintages and wines.

In the 2011 this contrast in weather conditions and therefore vintage outcomes could not be more pronounced.  While the middle and eastern parts of the country experienced generally cool and wet conditions with a raft of problems including disease and lack of fruit ripeness culminating in a late and partially compromised vintage, in Margaret River we had one of the driest and warmest summers on record.   The vintage of 2011 in Margaret River will be remembered as a very successful, very early and very clean vintage with no disease pressure.  The main pressure of the vintage was more logistic with grapes experiencing generally earlier ripening which put pressure on the ability of wineries to crush and process the fruit.

The winter of 2010 was disappointing with low rainfall meaning vineyards entered the summer of 2011 with drier than normal soil moisture profiles, combined with the hotter than normal temperatures of spring and early summer vineyards were potentially under water stress quite early in the season.  It is something of a paradox that it is in these dry and warm years that the older unirrigated (dry grown) vineyards outperform the younger irrigated vineyards.  Vineyards like Hay Shed Hill, planted in the 70s on good dirt with no irrigation have had decades to build up substantial deep root systems that do not rely on surface moisture.  In contrast younger vineyards that have been irrigated from inception do not build the depth if root systems and are more reliant on the moisture in the top half metre of soil.  In a very warm dry year like 2011 it is very difficult for these vineyards to apply enough irrigation to keep the vines in balance.  So it was that we saw some of the younger irrigated vineyards losing leaf condition earlier than desirable while vineyards like Hay Shed Hill maintained leaf quality and function right through to harvest thus maximizing the inputs into the fruit.

The result of this fine vintage was excellent fruit across all varieties.  The earlier varieties such as Chardonnay were bright and expressive while the reds had ample sun to develop wonderful colour and fruit intensity. 

The vintage of 2011 from Margaret River backs up a wonderful run of vintages since the problematic 2006.  In contrast to the rest of Australia the wines will be of the highest quality and will further enhance the reputation of this region

Written by Michael Kerrigan, owner and winemaker at Hay Shed Hill, Margaret River