By Luke Tyler
The 130 year old basket presses are getting a real work out
The cellar crew are busier than a one armed window washer after a sand storm. We have received almost half of the grapes we will process this year, …
Posts Tagged ‘Harvest diary’
Mar
05
The 2010 Harvest at SAAM Mountain Vineyards
By Callie Coetzee, Viticulturist at SAAM
Growing conditions
We had a great winter with an above average rainfall in our area. The rain came almost every second week and continued until the middle of November 2009.
From the middle of November until we started to harvest, we had little or no rain. These conditions are great for healthy ripening of our grapes.
Our harvest started …
Mar
01
d’Arenberg’s harvest diary
By Luke Tyler
Some very precious 90 year old Mourvedre bush vines
The pace has really picked up this week with a week of heavy grape intake. Fruit quality is looking great and the winemakers are already looking forward to tasting the wine in …
Feb
26
d’Arenberg harvest diary
By Luke Tyler
Riesling grapes
Vintage is the most exciting time of year in a winery and the buzz around the d’Arenberg cellars in 2010 is electric. Healthy winter and spring rains set up the vines well with good canopies. A heat spell in November prevented a lot of Grenache from setting, but did not harm any other varieties. There was …
Jan
04
In Search of Pinosity: Wither Hills Celebrates 10 Years of Pinot Noir
By LyLy Lim
Hand plunging pinot noir in open fermenters
Marlborough winery Wither Hills celebrated its Pinot Noir coming of age in 2009. The release of the 2007 Wither Hills Pinot Noir marked the 10th vintage of pinot noir produced by the winery, heralding another chapter in the search for ‘Pinosity’ – …
Dec
30
Getting “Hands On” at St Hallett
By St Hallett, http://www.sthallett.com.au/
Vintage in the Barossa, one of Australia’s leading wine regions, brings with it busy times, crazy times and if you’re lucky, fun and satisfying times. Working at a winery during this period is a unique experience and one often not shown to those outside the winery who enjoy the fruits of such labour, including media, customers and sales …
Dec
17
Calera Diaries, final episode
By Omar Raafat
Calera vineyards
Part 3 of Omar’s harvest experience at Calera. If you missed the previous posts click part 1 & part 2 to get the whole story.
In addition to lab tests and punching down, I also got to receive grapes coming from the vineyards and run them through the destemmer, crush Viognier in a vaslin press …
Dec
07
Calera Diaries, Part 2
By Omar Raafat
Punching down workout
It’s easy to miss the turning into the region’s most prestigious winery and I very nearly did, coming as it does just after a slight bend in the road and with not much by way of signage to warn you but after a swift (and probably illegal) reversing manoeuvre I was in! …
Nov
30
Calera Diaries, Part One
by Omar Raafat
Calera vineyards
It all started at last year’s Bibendum annual tasting. I’d always wanted to work a harvest but had never had the chance and with none of my European languages being good enough, doing so in France or Italy had never felt like an option. I wanted to be able to ask lots of questions, really find out how …
Nov
27
Loire Valley 2009 – Preliminary vintage report
By Charles Sidney
Although it’s still a wee bit early for a complete vintage report (strange, but I do like to taste the wines as well as watch the grapes coming in!), I’d guess it’s safe to say that 2009 is going to be a great vintage for us in the Loire.
The grapes are healthy and have come in with nicely balanced acidity and the …