Margaret River wine season ahead of schedule as Howard Park’s Jeff Burch eyes ‘fast and furious’ 2025 vintage

The South West wine season is running weeks ahead of schedule with winemakers tipping 2025 to be the year for white wines in the region. Howard Park maestro Jeff Burch says this year’s vintage is “fast and furious” and looking great, especially for white wines. The Cowaramup winery owner said this year’s grape harvest was looking to beat last year’s record for early start and finish times. Furthermore, veraison — the ripening of grapes — had occurred simultaneously across all the South West’s key winegrowing regions, he said, which was unusual. “We are approximately 50 per cent through our harvest this year, with all of our sparkling, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and semillon picked, and riesling up next week,” he said. “This is very early for us historically, with half of our vintage picked before the end of February. “Not only is this year ahead by two to three weeks, but surprisingly, every region and variety has ripened at the same time: northern Margaret River, southern Margaret River and Mt Barker all have fruit ready to pick simultaneously.” The news follows reports from other winemakers that vintage 2025 is shaping up to be a ripper, with great conditions leading to an early start to harvest. Stella Bella winemaker Luke Jolliffe said his vineyards were bearing fruit for an “exciting vintage”. “Warm and humid conditions through January look to have closed the gap in maturity between red and white varietals,” he said. “Humidity can also promote good tannin ripeness, which is key for cabernet sauvignon.” Juniper Estate’s assistant vineyard manager Dan Stocker said conditions were ideal in the lead-up to harvesting. Burch said the compacted vintage was a test for the winemaking teams. While it wasn’t unusual for Margaret River vignerons to work around the clock during vintage, he said the broad seasonality meant more travel between vineyards than normal. Howard Park’s chief winemaker Nic Bowen’s team had their work cut out for them, Burch said. “The weather has been perfect — warm days, cool nights, no disease pressure, and above-average yields, delivering clean, ripe fruit full of flavour while still holding great acidity,” he said. “Chardonnay is looking fantastic, and there will be plenty of it.” Burch also said reds were “colouring up beautifully” in moves set to bring intensity to flavour and consistency.