2024 Wrapped: Early Vintage, Big Wins, and a Look at What’s Next!

With the strains of an exciting fifth day of a Boxing Day test match in the background, I’ve taken to the keyboard to report on what has been a pivotal year in Iron Gate Estate’s history.

It started with one of the earliest vintages I can remember in my experience, with harvest starting well within the first two weeks of January. When I were a lad, vintage started a few days short of February; currently we start fruit testing next week and I suspect we’ll only have a week or so to clean and test run our processing equipment before we start picking, much like 2024.

The 2024 vintage was high in quality but low on volume, a reflection of some inclement weather in previous vintages influencing fruitfulness and we are pleased with the resulting wines. The weather conditions meant that the fruit ripened beautifully (if albeit quickly) and so the wines are all fruit forward (read yummy). As part of the winemaking team, our aim is to make the best wine we can from what the year has provided.

These last two years have been our most successful in terms of wine show medals right across the board with a few firsts. We launched our first sparkling red with Rojo Brillante, the ‘23 Blanc de Blanc gave us our first trophy win, our ‘23 Semillon, Verdelho and Portero all picking up gold medals in different wine shows, while our ‘23 Chardonnay scored solid silver medals in all competitions. Our ‘24 whites have also performed well, and we hope that next year they do as well as their predecessors. However, the real measure of our success is when our wine is enjoyed by our members and visitors, so thank you for the great feedback.

Iron Gate Estate Team at Hunter Valley Boutique Winemakers Show 2024. 

Left to right: Gavin (GM) & Assistant Winemaker and Social Media Queen, Jade.

Showing off the trophy for our 2023 Blanc de Blanc 

Did I mention the reds? We bottled our ‘23 vintage reds late in the year, with some of them already on sale with the ‘23 Shiraz Touriga blend hitting the right note with all who have tasted it. This is because we were able, for the first time, to allow the young red wines the full benefit of extended oak maturation. After the great response to our 2022 reds, keep an eye out for the new ‘23 Reserve and Primera reds as they come on sale.

For those of you who are reading this and have visited us since April, you could not have failed to notice the building work being carried out next to our cellar door. This impressive undertaking is our new Kitchen/Restaurant and is opening in March. It is an investment in providing an extension of the Iron Gate Estate experience and we think that our members and visitors will love it. Renovations are also taking place in our courtyard area and extra restrooms have been added. It will be a new look for us when finished, but the changes will be well worth the wait. We thank our members and visitors (and don’t forget the staff-Ed) for putting up with the disruptions. Oh, and the new road- entry “iron gates” will be installed in the New Year.

So, with one eye to the future and one in the rear-view mirror, we hope that 2025 is a bit less hectic than 2024 and wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year.

Written by Geoff  30.12.24

(Artwork by author)