So here’s the thing; We had a thought. And that thought is that you might to ride the vintage tiger through this 2026 vintage here at Bloodwood. So what we intend to do is a semi-daily report on what’s going right and why. If things go wrong, we’ll also share that with you. Now there’s another thought. We hope you learn and enjoy the inside story from someone who should be inside. Here goes:

Day 1 - 19th February

It’s vintage 2026 eve here at Bloodwood. Tomorrow we begin with a hand picking the Schubert Chardonnay. The forecast is for showers developing in the afternoon which, if they appear will halt our progress. We’ve had 1,334 Degree Days at Bloodwood since the beginning of October with a scorching January (399.9 Degree Days) and a drying trend throughout. It would be ironic if we are interrupted by rain tomorrow. And it would be annoying if that rainfall was more than a few mls. We don’t foliage trim on the vineyard which was a good call this year with the annual desiccation fortnight taking a savage toll of any unprotected fruit and stripping away our beloved natural acids.

Vintage eve is always an anxious and exciting time when the hard manual work of the past year leads into what I call the Championship round. You may be punch-drunk coping with the effect the weather and the birds have had on your beautiful grapes, but you have to get up off the canvas and really concentrate until the final bell. Wish us luck.

Cheers,

Stephen and Rhonda