The vintage season of 2010, which began as planned in early February, is well on its way .
Our chenin blanc was first to be picked and luckily we were fortunate with the weather after experiencing a very hot January. As expected, we were relieved that February’s earlier weather remained fairly mild.
We have always hand-picked our fruit which is not only labour intensive, but extremely costly. It does however allow us to select the best fruit and skip patches where damage may have incurred.
The days and weeks leading up to picking are crucial, for this is the best time to simply taste the ripening fruit. Here, we keep a close eye on sweetness and evidence of natural acidity which gives balance to the fruit.
The way we test sugar is by using a measurement called Beaume. With today’s consumer preference towards fresher, crisper white wines, we aim to secure Beaume levels between 12 and 13 per cent.
To give our wines added complexity we often pick the same variety over several days or weeks. This is because the fruit exhibits different characters at different ripening levels.
For instance, the earlier picked fruit will be lighter in body and have higher acidity levels which gives the wine a good fresh finish and a citrus bouquet and taste.
Currently I have five batches of the same variety quietly fermenting-away and each will have a slightly different character.
We also apply selective wine yeasts to achieve and enhance characters in the fruit – in fact there are as many as 100 yeasts available and each claim to contribute different characters to wine.
The juice is fermented relatively cold between 12 and 16 degrees, again each batch is treated differently and must be monitored continuously.
And because yeasts are living cells, they need the right environment for a clean fermentation. If it’s too hot or too cold, they will produce dirty off-flavours.
Again the best tool is your senses. Generally an accurate gauge is arriving at work first thing in the morning and if after the winery door is opened, you get a waft of exotic aromas, you know immediately the ferments are working the way they should be.
Once all the sugar is converted to alcohol we look at blending the best tanks that will eventually form the 2010 chenin blanc.
We have also started picking the first of our reds. Shiraz from our old Mariginiup vineyard, merlot from our homestead block in Woodvale and the exotic Spanish variety tempranillo from a grower in the Swan Valley.
The prediction of extremely hot weather has forced our hand a little. The shiraz fruit is in great condition but a few very hot days could lead to fruit dehydration leaving it withered and stewed, resulting in the wine exhibiting an undesirable port-like character.
Meanwhile we plan on collecting fruit from the South West in the next two or three weeks, meaning March will be our busiest month for the vintage season.