With a little bit of a break between bottling, putting on nets out at the vineyard and harvest, I thought I would grab some time to write a quick update on how the season is progressing. While it was looking like a super late start to vintage, I think with the warmer weather that we have been having recently (and we just had another hot weekend) it feels like it might catch up super fast.
Spring was cool and wet here like most parts of South East Australia, although we certainly didn't get as much rain as some other grape growing regions. It was pretty dismal conditions for much of November and December however which kept Bryn on his toes with ensuring that we avoided any disease, and also resulted in less than ideal conditions for flowering. As a result there is a fair amount of millerandage or 'hen and chicken' in most varieties which will affect crop levels quite a lot. Anyway, we'll see how things pan out over the next few weeks!
In the meantime, now that nets are on (and we're trying to ensure that they stay on which can be no mean feat as I found out last Friday!) we've been able to catch up on some other jobs around the winery and vineyard. There are still tanks and barrels to wash, floors to clean and stock takes to do to make sure everything is replenished prior to vintage but I think we are getting there. New barrels are arriving too which is always a sign that vintage can't be far away.
Out at the vineyard, Bryn has finished off the chicken coop and we finally have half a dozen chooks scratching around in the olive grove. It is almost three years since we transplanted much of the olive grove to another part of the block to make way for stage two of the vineyard development and it looks like we will finally getting some olives from the trees again as they settle in to their new location. I'm very excited to have fresh olive oil again!
In other good news, the new vines are going gangbusters and I'm hopeful that we'll be able to get a little bit of fruit off of them next vintage. although the downside of that is more netting to do!
The 2022 Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Palisander Riesling were all safely put to bottle a couple of weeks ago so are resting up prior to release in September.
As some of you may have noticed, I've either sold out of many of the wines or am running pretty low. There is a little bit of the 2022 Riesling and the 2022 Rada left, but only 8 6-packs of the 2021 Chardonnay still available if you need a top before the next release later in the year. As always the best way to ensure you don't miss out on any of your favourites is by joining my wine club.
With the wines selling out so quickly and my lovely national and international distributors clambering for more wine (and this before I have even turned earth for the new cellar door!), I've started discussions with my neighbours about purchasing a 5 ha paddock from them. I'm just waiting to hear about securing some water, but with any luck we'll have some extra room for more development. I have to say I'm in two minds about it - establishing vineyards is exhausting and I thought I'd put it behind me but this is too good an opportunity to knock back.
Speaking about the cellar door, we're starting to get to the pointy end of planning for this, so hopefully I'll have a timeline by the next newsletter.
