Warmer temperatures and above average Winter/Spring rains made for an early budburst. A few loads of fruit beat the late January rains but things slowed up for a week until we dried out. Perfect dry conditions followed for the rest of vintage, with the added soil moisture keeping night time temperatures lower then usual. This allowed the fruit to retain fresh acid in whites and good colour/flavour in reds. 2016 will be remembered as one of the earliest and most compressed vintages on record with harvest over mid March.