The vines are exiting their winter dormancy and we are joining them at the beginning of a new season's journey. The story of the 2012 season begins to be written.
The pruning was successfully completed in good time and the new canes wrapped down well before any sign of bud swell. Despite the difficulties of last season's challenging humid conditions the vines had good mature wood to use for this season's canes and we expect a consistent budburst. We have aerated the vineyard several times to open up the soil for air and moisture penetration and to alleviate the problem of compaction from using the tractor on saturated soils. This method creates punctures about 120mm deep in the mid row, about 250mm from the base of the vine, and three passes gives a very good coverage. Some superficial roots are cut and the structure of the soil is improved.
The 2011 vintage wines remain on heavy yeast lees in barrel and are at varying stages in regard to the completion of malo-lactic. The wines are looking very good and have excellent intensity and balance. It is, of course, early days for the 2011s but it is at least a very successful vintage which exhibits excellent fruit purity, intensity and balance. We must wait until the end of Spring and for the malos to be completed. The best indication will come post racking when the wines are taken off lees from barrel and returned to the cleaned barrels as they always look freshened up and more complete.
We are now releasing the last of the 2010s. The wines are showing quite well but are clearly very young and un-evolved. I expect the release to sell out rather quickly and apologise if we are unable to fulfill all orders satisfactorily. The reality is we have not increased our production while we have seen a large increase in our customer base.
Thank you for using our website and your interest in our wines.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Harvest 2011
Amongst ourselves, and to some winemaking colleagues, we said we might not make it. Many didn't make it this year. There were a myriad of different challenges and anxieties to overcome and the feeling from November to April was that at any point the crop could be lost. This season more than any other we were ever focused and attentive to what the vineyard needed in response to the incredible weather conditions.
For eight years now we have not used any systemic fungicides. It is now six years since we have applied systemic/chemical sprays for weeds - now we use straw mulch and slashing. We do not use systemic applications to eradicate pests. Our focus has been to promote life forces rather than to apply death to control our vineyard environment. This year we held firm to this regime with the exception of two systemic fungicide applications, the first in eight years, to the foliage in December. There was a temptation to used anti botrytis fungal sprays on the ripening fruit but we had done so much work to have an open, clean, airy canopy we felt more comfortable to take the risk than spray. Also, we dropped 30% of the overall crop on the ground before veraison/ripening as we didn't want fruit on small shoots or in clumps where fruit ripening rates would be compromised and disease would be more likely to develop with bunches touching one another. Also, a larger crop would have required another week to 10 days of ripening and this was clearly not the season to risk exposing the fruit to extra adverse weather events.
As a reward for the hard work April provided some important warm, sunny classic autumnal weather and the flavours and sugars developed beautifully. The pickers were very diligent in removing any fruit not in optimal condition and the quality of the grapes arriving at the winery was quite remarkable. All the pinot noir has been pressed out post fermentation and is resting in barrel. There are still some barrels of chardonnay fermenting. Overall, the volume of wine is very reasonable (30 tonnes from 16 acres/6 hectares) and, whilst clearly early days, the style of the wines looks to be intense and balanced. For this stage the wines are representative of their site and usual style.
For eight years now we have not used any systemic fungicides. It is now six years since we have applied systemic/chemical sprays for weeds - now we use straw mulch and slashing. We do not use systemic applications to eradicate pests. Our focus has been to promote life forces rather than to apply death to control our vineyard environment. This year we held firm to this regime with the exception of two systemic fungicide applications, the first in eight years, to the foliage in December. There was a temptation to used anti botrytis fungal sprays on the ripening fruit but we had done so much work to have an open, clean, airy canopy we felt more comfortable to take the risk than spray. Also, we dropped 30% of the overall crop on the ground before veraison/ripening as we didn't want fruit on small shoots or in clumps where fruit ripening rates would be compromised and disease would be more likely to develop with bunches touching one another. Also, a larger crop would have required another week to 10 days of ripening and this was clearly not the season to risk exposing the fruit to extra adverse weather events.
As a reward for the hard work April provided some important warm, sunny classic autumnal weather and the flavours and sugars developed beautifully. The pickers were very diligent in removing any fruit not in optimal condition and the quality of the grapes arriving at the winery was quite remarkable. All the pinot noir has been pressed out post fermentation and is resting in barrel. There are still some barrels of chardonnay fermenting. Overall, the volume of wine is very reasonable (30 tonnes from 16 acres/6 hectares) and, whilst clearly early days, the style of the wines looks to be intense and balanced. For this stage the wines are representative of their site and usual style.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The vineyard is patient. The vignerons must be also.
We have entered a period of nostalgia as we amble through a March that seems more like 1993 than 2011. The fruit is finally veraised. The nets are on. The vines are green. The fruit is exposed and healthy. The crop was thinned by 30% and what remains is calmly awaiting some sunshine. Hope is what we have. And an expectation of some testing weather but some confidence that our vines are able to work through the next four or five weeks to produce a worthy expression of the season and their unique place.
Tasting the three bottled 2010 wines has been a delightful contrast to the shocks of local and global maladies and the difficulty of this growing season. The level of perfume, intensity, fruit purity and harmony that 2010 has delivered is exceptionally pleasing. And the remaining 2010 wines in barrel continue to develop beautifully. Their stories are evolving slowly.
We have entered a period of nostalgia as we amble through a March that seems more like 1993 than 2011. The fruit is finally veraised. The nets are on. The vines are green. The fruit is exposed and healthy. The crop was thinned by 30% and what remains is calmly awaiting some sunshine. Hope is what we have. And an expectation of some testing weather but some confidence that our vines are able to work through the next four or five weeks to produce a worthy expression of the season and their unique place.
Tasting the three bottled 2010 wines has been a delightful contrast to the shocks of local and global maladies and the difficulty of this growing season. The level of perfume, intensity, fruit purity and harmony that 2010 has delivered is exceptionally pleasing. And the remaining 2010 wines in barrel continue to develop beautifully. Their stories are evolving slowly.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Since when was the sub tropics moved to southern Victoria? The cool, elevated Macedon ranges felt like central Victoria for a decade and now we feel like grape growers in Byron Bay. Without the beach, sadly.
Dams that did not fill for a decade have continually overflowed from December to now. Long term, great for the landscape. Short term, a lot of focus on the vineyard with tractor work, shoot removal, fruit dropping, trimming and broken sleep wondering what the rain and humidity is doing to the canopy.
So far the vineyard is healthy and fruit is clean. We will see. The first veraising berry was seen yesterday so we are still 10 days away from getting right into the colour change and sugar accumulation phase. After that we will need around six weeks to achieve ripeness. It looks to be a long, humid, frustrating push to harvest. We will delay putting the bird nets on as long as possible so we can continue to work on the canopy. I was speaking with Stuart Anderson last week and asked if he'd ever seen a season like this in his 50 years of wine life. "Never' was the response. Sure, summer rain events and thunderstorms had highlighted some growing seasons but never the continual humidity and frequency of tropical weather being pushed south.
On a joyous note, we bottled the Composition Chardonnay, Composition Pinot Noir and Pyrette Shiraz from 2010 last Sunday and they are all looking to be of excellent quality. Sure, they now need several months to settle but the harmony and depth of the vintage is very pleasing and come release time in June they will be opening up again. The Quartz, Original Vineyard and Block 5 will be bottled in June and they have wonderful depth and structure.
Dams that did not fill for a decade have continually overflowed from December to now. Long term, great for the landscape. Short term, a lot of focus on the vineyard with tractor work, shoot removal, fruit dropping, trimming and broken sleep wondering what the rain and humidity is doing to the canopy.
So far the vineyard is healthy and fruit is clean. We will see. The first veraising berry was seen yesterday so we are still 10 days away from getting right into the colour change and sugar accumulation phase. After that we will need around six weeks to achieve ripeness. It looks to be a long, humid, frustrating push to harvest. We will delay putting the bird nets on as long as possible so we can continue to work on the canopy. I was speaking with Stuart Anderson last week and asked if he'd ever seen a season like this in his 50 years of wine life. "Never' was the response. Sure, summer rain events and thunderstorms had highlighted some growing seasons but never the continual humidity and frequency of tropical weather being pushed south.
On a joyous note, we bottled the Composition Chardonnay, Composition Pinot Noir and Pyrette Shiraz from 2010 last Sunday and they are all looking to be of excellent quality. Sure, they now need several months to settle but the harmony and depth of the vintage is very pleasing and come release time in June they will be opening up again. The Quartz, Original Vineyard and Block 5 will be bottled in June and they have wonderful depth and structure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
