Two Weeks Into the Season — Notes from Our Truffière, Manjimup

We are now two weeks into Season 2026, and I wanted to share where things stand.

We opened the season the way we had hoped — with two launch events at Truffle HQ in Subiaco, catered by Chef Oliver Buenviaje of Oli's Fine Food. We were joined by media, chefs,  our customers who are on our VIP list. It was a wonderful way to mark the start of the season, and we are grateful to everyone who came.

The truffles we have harvested so far have been beautiful — deeply aromatic, well-formed, exactly the quality we hope for at the start of a season. In that sense it has been a wonderful beginning.

What has surprised us is the demand. In these first two weeks we have shipped to New York, Toronto, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, and Sydney, among other places — and we currently have more orders than truffles to fill them. It is, admittedly, a good problem to have. But it is also a reminder of how much trust our distributors and chefs place in us, and how seriously we take getting this right.

The truffles are there, beneath the soil, ripening. As the nights continue to cool through June, we expect production to increase steadily — this is normal for early season, when the first truffles to mature are often the most developed, with more following as the cold deepens.

We would rather under-promise in these early weeks than send anything that doesn't meet our standard. Every truffle that leaves Smithbrook is graded to UNECE standards before it goes anywhere, and that does not change regardless of how much demand we are seeing.

Looking ahead — at the end of this month we are taking part in Truffle Kerfuffle, the truffle festival held here in Manjimup. Below&Above wines will be on the menu across two dinners during the festival, and we are looking forward to being part of it.

For now — thank you to everyone who has placed an order in these first two weeks. We look forward to supplying our customers new and old throughout the season.

Evdokia