The 2025 vintage has been exceptionally hot and dry in the Piccadilly Valley, yet has produced some extremely fine sparkling base juices.
The end of winter was warm, which promoted budbust early September (three weeks ahead of average) in some of the earlier blocks of the Piccadilly Valley. September temperatures were on average but the following Spring months were warmer than average (with October more than 50% warmer than average), and this accelerated shoot growth. Rainfall was below average in Spring – but substantial enough to promote canopy growth and healthy development of the vines. Flowering was also three weeks early, mid-November, followed by a promising set in Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. Veraison started early January in the earlier Pinot Noir blocks, and mid-January in the Chardonnay.
We have been blessed with five cooler vintages from 2020 until 2024, leaving the fruit to ripen longer without risk of losing freshnesss. The 2025 vintage was almost as warm as the 2016 vintage, but with a much earlier ripening pattern since winter was also warmer and drier, and much warmer weather post veraison. As a result, we were definitely not expecting to leave the fruit on the vines for too long and picking decisions were made aiming for freshness above all and to avoid overripe fruit (in particular for our Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier fruit). Our aim, like every year, was to pick when the grapes had lost all their green characters and were starting to show some fruit characters.
We started picking French clones of Pinot Noir and the Pinot Meunier well into the first half of February, then moved on to the Australian clones of Pinot Noir mid-February, finishing off with Chardonnay the second half of February.
At harvest, we noticed that the grapes had retained perfect acidities (both malic and tartaric) for the production of high quality sparkling wine, and that the sugars for all our blocks remained at perfect levels. We noticed in the earlier picked French clones, Pinot Noir grape juices displayed some very sharp fruit flavours (strawberries, cassis) which we did not expect to be so intense. We noticed a similar pattern in the Pinot Meunier with core fruit characters of red peach and raspberries. We were stunned by the complexity and perfect flavour ripeness of the Chardonnay grapes. All the juices share elegance and freshness, and classic Piccadilly Valley fruit expression.
DAOSA Blanc de Blancs – Bizot Vineyard
The Chardonnay (from clones 76, 95, 96 and 277 from the Bizot Vineyard), used for our DAOSA Blanc de Blancs base, were picked by hand on the 19th and 21st of February. Yields were just on average for Piccadilly Valley at around 5 tonne/ha. The juices show very ripe Chardonnay flavours of white stone fruit and grapefruit, combined with a very balanced acidity.
DAOSA Natural Réserve 10th Release – Piccadilly Valley Vineyards
Moderate yields (between 5tonne/ha and 8tonne/ha) of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier from our Piccadilly Valley vineyards were hand-harvested from the 7th until the 15th of February, three weeks earlier than in 2024 and more than six weeks earlier than 2023. The fruit shows a classic character of strawberry juice for the Pinot Noir and red stone fruit for the Pinot Meunier. Above average yields of Chardonnay from our Piccadilly Valley vineyards were hand-harvested from the 19th of February until the 26th of February, at perfect flavour ripeness, and will bring a lot of complexity to the fresher Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier in the final blend.
Comparison of the previous vintages in the Piccadilly Valley
October to February heat summation base 10°C days
| Year | Avg 1980 -2025 | 2015 -2016 | 2016 -2017 | 2017 -2018 | 2018 -2019 | 2019-2020 | 2020-2021 | 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 |
| Mount Lofty, CliMate data | 879.8 | 1,195.56(+36%) | 826.83(-6%) | 1,112.1(+26.4%) | 1,084.3(+23.2%) | 931.37(+5.8%) | 917.8(+4.3%) | 822.86(-6.5%) | 838.01(-6.7%) | 882.12(+2.6%) | 1139.96(+29.6%) |
% of average rainfall from October to February
| Year | 2015-2016 | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | 2020-2021 | 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 |
| Mount Lofty, CliMate data | 84% | 212% | 90% | 101% | 105% | 111% | 114% | 93% | 145% | 57% |
The 2025 vintage in the Piccadilly Valley was extremely warm (almost as warm as 2016), but also extremely dry, in particular throughout January and February. It was also 15% warmer and 83% drier in January/February 2025 than in January/February 2016, which tends to explain the much earlier harvest dates.
It was a year when the timing of harvest was critical in every block to make sure the grapes were picked at a balanced acid/sugar/phenolic ripeness. Looking at the juices in tank, it seems we have achieved both freshness and full-flavour ripeness.
