By Rob Pickard
Over the years Huia have taken quite a bit of blog space here on B Times. They’ve always got a story to tell and whether it’s their involvement with MANA and natural winemaking, a cheeky Pinot Noir wine of the week or harvest news from the team in Marlborough, we love to tell you all about …
By Fabio Bartolomei, http://vinosambiz.blogspot.com/
All done! Grapes picked and crushed already! I have to check my notes from past years to be sure, but I get the impression that the harvest is earlier and earlier every year!
Picking
We picked the grapes on Saturday 27th August, and unusually, it was a very relaxed, no-stress, no-rush, family and children oriented day. …
By Andrew McCarthy, Bodegas Castro Martin, http://bodegascastromartin.com/blog/
As we arrive closer to harvest time with every day that passes, so we spend our days collecting and analysing grape samples. Of course the objective of this exercise is quite simple – to decide the optimum time to start picking.
On face value this might appear to be a very simple, straightforward task, but the reality …
By Andrew McCarthy, Bodegas Castro Martin, http://bodegascastromartin.com/blog/
Only a day or so ago our local denomination office announced that the official yield for the 2011 vintage will be increased from 12,000 kilos per hectare to 13,900 kilos – an increment of some 15.8%.
I am happy to tell you that our own yields fall far below this, for one simple reason.
I was always taught that the …
By Chester Osborn, www.darenberg.com.au
After the rain of late March, consistent sunny April days in the mid twenties, came as a welcome relief. Disease pressure remained high throughout, but the grapes were back in ripening mode, and fruit started rolling across the weigh bridge once again.
Botrytis was spotted in some vineyards, mainly in the areas that received the most …
By Chester Osborn, www.darenberg.com.au
After a mild, yet sunny weekend it rained consistently through the last week of March. There was a huge difference in rainfall across the region with some areas only receiving a few mm, while others received up to 14.8mm! Luckily this was considerable less than other wine regions and it was not heavy downpours, rather steady drizzle.
The greatest concern …
By Fabio Bartolomei, http://vinosambiz.blogspot.com/
I’m still recovering from an intense two days of pruning. Apart from the blisters on my hands, the following parts of my body are sore today: fingers, thumbs, forearms, elbows, biceps, shoulders, buttocks, thighs, calves and toes!! But especially the fingers! I guess that’s what happens when you only do certain movements once a year!
On Saturday, there were 10 …
By Fabio Bartolomei, http://vinosambiz.blogspot.com/
Following lots of coverage from our Southern Hemisphere friends and their on-going 2011 vintage, here is a little update from Vinos Ambiz, a winery slightly closer to us here in sunny England.
I did some more pruning yesterday (Thurs 17th March). We’re still running very late this year. We’ve only managed to do about 0.25 hectares out of a total …
By Chester Osborn, www.darenberg.com.au
As expected there were a number of Shiraz blocks picked this week (pictured above) following a string of sunny days, some of these blocks included Dead Arm material. Temperatures in the low to mid twenties all week were perfect conditions for ripening and has allowed for steady ripening and a great deal of picking….
By Fabio Bartolomei, http://vinosambiz.blogspot.com/
I confess! I did it! I put some SULPHUR in a lot of wine a few months ago. It was either that, or lose the wine. But it gets worse! It was the first time that we’d ever added a dose of sulphites to our wine so we weren’t quite sure how to calculate the quantity to add, and …
