Vintage 2022: First Pick
Feb 21, 2022
Early morning starts with secateurs in hand, working up and down the vines. Handpicked fruit fill the buckets, then safely transported by tractor from the vineyard to the winery.
It’s vintage, one of the busiest and most exciting times of the year in the Margaret River Wine Region.
This year marks the 21st vintage for Flying Fish Cove. Lyn Eastaugh has been present for every vintage alongside her winemaker son, Damon Eastaugh.
When there’s jobs to be done in the vineyard, Lyn accompanies Damon and Simon. She recently turned 80 and her viticulture experience is invaluable - she knows how grape vines grow from her experience with some of the local growers from Wilyabrup like Ellis Butcher.
In the 1980’s Lyn did vintage with Diana Cullen at Cullen Wines. It was hard work and almost broke her, cementing an interest in setting up her own vineyard.
Wildberry Vineyard in Wilyabrup is the main source of fruit for Flying Fish Cove and Lyn has been involved since its inception in 1997.
First pick for the year was the chardonnay at Wildberry Vineyard on February 15th.
It's a labour of love for the Eastaugh's with multiple generations coming together to hand-pick the fruit. Lyn, her two children Damon and Jonica, Damon's wife Waveney, his three children Flynn, Louis, Ruby and Louis' partner Lili.
Damon see’s Jim, Robin and Ray most mornings at Yalls for his early morning surf. They love a good banter and are usually down at the lagoon for a swim.
They’re retired and were keen to come out and help pick this year, as they were interested in what’s going on in the local area.
After 3 hours of picking, the gang finished up with morning tea. A delicious home-made cake baked by Jonica.
Simon Ding, Chief Winemaker provided an update on how vintage is tracking.
‘Vintage is looking really good this year. It’s been dry, so a lovely ripening period. We haven’t had any of the rain events that we had last year. The Chardonnay looks really good, powerful fruit flavours and good acidities.’
The future looks bright with the 2022 vintage off to a good start.
