Howard Park in line for ‘excellent’ 2020 vintage

With Margaret River enjoying “near perfect” growing season, one of the region’s best known producers, Howard Park, has reported that the quality of the wines is “excellent”.

Howard Park estate in Margaret River is gearing up for an “excellent” 2020 vintage

Picking at Howard Park began three weeks earlier than usual this year, with native blossom keeping the birds busy, negating the need for nets.

Estate owner Jeff Burch reports that the weather was “warm enough but not super-hot” during harvest, with Margaret River fortunate enough to be spared from the forest fires the wreaked havoc in New South Wales and the Adelaide Hills.

“Winemakers were under no pressure and could pick when they felt the fruit was ready,” Burch said.

Jeff Burch is pleased with his 2020 crop, though yields were down

“Sparkling grapes came in first and we immediately knew we were in line for a great vintage. The flavour was there, the fruit was ripe, but clean, with no bird peck or weather-caused disease and lovely acidity,” he added.

While quality was good across all varieties at Howard Park, yields were down between 25-40% this year, with Chardonnay producing the most reduced crop.

“There will be some excellent Chardonnay and Riesling from this vintage but the volumes will be small,” Birch reported.

With regards to the reds, Burch said 2020 saw the “cleanest” Pinot Noir fruit he’d ever seen, with the grapes displaying “lovely flavours”, though 33% down in terms of yield on the estate’s five-year average.

Howard Park’s Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz benefitted greatly from the estate’s practice of putting compost under its vine rows to retain moisture.

Burch was pleased with the old vine, dry-farmed Cabernet picked at his Abercrombie vineyard, which yielded “incredibly small berries that will produce wines with remarkable colour and tannins”.

The biggest challenge facing the estate this year was the coronavirus pandemic, which led a number of international winemakers to have to fly home in he middle of harvest, leaving the estate understaffed.

“This made us very busy as we rushed to get our fruit in as soon as possible, but it has had no effect on quality and there will be some excellent reds from 2020,” Birch said. An in-depth look at the latest developments in the Australian wine industry will appear in the May issue of db.