Yelland & Papps
Vintage Journal — 2026
Week 7 | 20 April 2026
The Season
The season briefly led us toward winter, the shift felt in the air and in our pace. Yet, as if holding on a little longer, a week of warm autumn days has returned—soft light, long afternoons, and quiet, beautiful sunsets that remind us we are not quite finished.
Upcoming Fruit
The final fruit of Vintage 2026 now approaches.
• Shiraz — Flaxman Valley — Deans Vineyard
In the Winery
The 1890s Shiraz continues to ferment steadily, finding its rhythm. The pace is gentle, as it has been throughout this vintage, allowing the wines to form with calm and detail.
Life in the Winery
The mornings have softened. Only a handful of remontage and Baumé checks remain, the urgency of earlier weeks now replaced with a quieter routine.
The Work
The work turns toward closing. Equipment is cleaned and put away, spaces cleared. Wines are moved to barrels better suited to their final volumes—small adjustments that shape their next stage. The winery begins to return to order.
Place
There is a stillness across the estate now. The movement of vintage slows, the traffic fades, and a calm settles in around us. The land feels at rest again.
People
The week began with the funeral of Milton Materne. At 91, the size of the gathering spoke quietly of a life well lived and deeply connected to community and land.
From there, a shift back into family—attending the St Peter’s College Anzac Memorial service, then standing on the sidelines for our son’s soccer at community day. These moments sit alongside the vintage, grounding it.
Craft
The wines are now being put away to rest. Ferments near completion, structures settling. We will return to them at the end of May, when they begin to show more clearly what this season has given.
Closing Reflection
The exhaustion has settled in fully now. There is a weight to the end of vintage, where the body feels it before the mind catches up.
The light at the end of the tunnel is there—we just need to reach it.