Artelium Wine Estate

2023 vintage report

Across the board, it was an excellent vintage. For our Assistant Winemaker for the vintage, Solly Monyamane, the Chardonnay was a particular standout. He said that the Chardonnay from our West Sussex vines was the best he had ever worked with. Solly hails from South Africa, so this is a real compliment and a credit to the vineyard team who worked so hard over the year to get the fruit ready.

July was a wet month, and there was a concern around disease pressure. However, we kept a close eye on the vines and no big issues materialised. The majority of our vines were planted in 2017 – 2018, so we are now seeing a natural uptick in the number of grapes we are getting from our vines in Madehurst and Streat as they become better established. However, even taking into account the expected increase, 2023 was a bumper year. This was due to a good bud burst in late April and good weather during flowering meant we had a high flower count come July. The Indian Summer in September and the warm start to October helped boost the ripeness of the grapes and that long hang time should translate into some tasty wines.