Vintage Update

The Semillon & Shiraz grapes are now harvested and in the winery! It's a comforting relief but this doesn't mean the hard work is over for Thommo and the winery crew.

The Semillons have finished fermentation, have been chilled and are resting in tank, allowing the dead yeast cells to slowly drop to the bottom. From here the Semillons will be racked, (siphoning the clear wine from the cloudy sediment on the bottom), filtered & bottled. 

The Shiraz are currently fermenting in tank (with regular pump overs to manage the fermentation), or going through a secondary malolactic fermentation in barrel. One of the more unusual scenes in the winery at this time is seeing Thommo or Eden with their ear against the barrel bung hole. They do this to see how the fermentation is progressing as you can hear it fizzing & bubbling when the yeast are active. 

So what's Thommo think of vintage 2019? He's excited. He's calling the last three warm, dry vintages a "hat trick"; the 2019 Semillon being the standout over these three years; the Shiraz, a little early to call, but his gut feeling is that the 2017 and 2018 vintages will be marginally better than the 2019.

In between all this Thommo is selecting & packing the wines for your next Member packs. There's no rest for the wicked but there's plenty of coffee & Peroni & they help.

21/02/2019 at 4:25 PM Permalink

Kiss is in the Winery

It's been a fast & furious harvest with all the semillon & most of the shiraz now in the winery.

We harvested the majority of the shiraz this week, the quality is exceptional but yield down a little. Thommo is particularly excited by the quality off the Kiss Vineyard.

Visit us at Cellar Door this weekend & sample the 2019 vintage.

15/02/2019 at 5:04 PM Permalink

Vintage 2019 Update

An update from the Winery

The lead up to vintage 2019 has been warm & dry and the vineyards are looking great. The Semillon has ripened nicely with great flavour; we are half way through picking our Braemore vineyard.The Shiraz is showing great colour & flavour will follow close behind with harvest beginning next week. 

The Cellar Door Team love sharing a taste of Vintage, and the winery action with visitors. Throughout the harvest window they have grapes, ferments & juices for sampling - it's an exciting time to visit the Valley.

31/01/2019 at 4:30 PM Permalink