Please can we go back to the 1990s?

As I write, late February 2008, I have to review the century so far (by which I include 2000, but not everyone does, I don't understand why).

2000 and 2001. Reasonable volumes of pinot, which was of good quality. Poor volumes of chardonnay, and neither vintage of chardonnay was released.

2002. Total crop loss to hail following a difficult early season, including bogging the tractor in the middle of the vineyard. The logistics of extracting the tractor with minimal damage to the vines and trellises was interesting. The hail occurred in the early morning of Christmas Eve, so that was a nice Christmas present.

2003 Smoke from Omeo fires affected the pinot as it hung around the vineyard for two weeks. Unfortunately, pinot seems to be sensitive to smoke to a far greater degree than other vines, and the pinot of this vintage was effectively withdrawn. By contrast, the chardonnay was magnificent, albeit in tiny quantities.

2004 Quite a good year, but with the chardonnay I was in Rome at my daughter's wedding in 2005 when I should have been bottling the 2004 chardonnay, but blood is thicker than wine. The delay allowed the chardonnay to age somewhat, and prematurely, at least for our wines, which are usually long lived. The chardonnay was therefore released under our second label- Foothills of Gippsland.

2005. A good year for both pinot and chardonnay, both winning medals in one of the few shows we can enter – this is due to the minimum amount of wine which must be made before entries are accepted for the various shows. In many cases the minimum volume for one variety is greater than our annual total for all varieties.

2006. a good year for both quality and volume. Both varieties are safely in bottle for later release.

2007. Probably the most "interesting" year we have ever had. I actually started the growing season feeling guilty because we missed the severe frosts which devastated almost every other vineyard in East Gippsland. Then the drought flexed its muscles, and then more and more – effectively no rain from September until April. Most of our vines are tough, dry grown vines, but they do need some water.

Then the fires started in mid-December. Valencia Creek and Briagolong were front page national news for the first ten days or so, and we are halfway between! A serious threat to the winery and vineyard was only averted when the expected ember attack was halted by a late wind change. The vineyard was in smoke for five weeks, as the fires were only a little more than 5 km away, and for two weeks the visibility was so poor the maximum distance one could see was about 100 metres. I did not even try to make any pinot, but did make a little chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, and shiraz, for interest. The smoke taint is so obvious in these wines that it is hard to recognize the varieties, and for sauvignon blanc at least, that really is saying something!

2008? Not brilliant so far. Given the intensity of the fires last year, there is a real worry that the vines and soil may have taken so much smoke that it may still flavour THIS year's wines. Nobody knows, and even the experts are in the dark as to all the effects of bushfires on vines. Mind you, if smoke was really in the soil, then the FLOODS in June and October, and very heavy rainfalls since November should have washed it out! With the rain comes botrytis and mildews – and the botrytis is NOT a good quality factor here. You can only do so much with sprays, and once you are into the with-holding period (the time in which sprays are not permitted before vintage), you really are in the lap of the gods (who seem to be looking the other way!). A very limited and "interesting" vintage approaches.

Gordon McIntosh – the optimistic winemaker.