In contrast to the previous year the weather in spring at the end of 2003 during budburst and the emergence of flowers for the 2004 season was terrific; cool but sunny with little wind meant that fruit set was the fullest seen since 2001. It is a much held conviction that low yield means high quality but that really depends on why the yields were low. Yields were strong in 2001 and I cannot remember a higher quality vintage.
With fine conditions the 2004 season looked very promising, good shoot growth was achieved early and there was low disease pressure in the early part of the season. Conditions throughout the remainder of the ripening season were very good with reds from the earlier regions: Margaret River and the Frankland River sub-region displaying full flavour and colour achieved with consistent ripening. The later maturing regions such as Mt. Barker extended ripening into the break of summer with several rainfall events breaking up the ripening pattern and causing some delays in harvesting. In summary I would expect the 2004 vintage wines to be very strong across the board.
The Great Southern again produced richly textured Cabernet Sauvignon providing the structural backbone to
the 2004 Howard Park Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot. The Margaret River component has contributed to the structure of the wine without dominating. The fruit was fermented in open stainless steel vats with twice daily pumpovers with active aeration to promote the textural development of the wine. The resultant wine was matured in 70% new French oak barriques for 23 months prior to bottling.
