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Today sees
the completion of the white grapes from our vineyards, with the harvest of a
small patch of Viognier. The skins from the Viognier will be incorporated with
our first block of Shiraz for co-fermentation. We only use about one percent
Viognier in our Shiraz, and find it is important in adding subtle floral
nuances and lift to the wine. The Shiraz looks amazing, with excellent tannin
ripeness and vibrant berry flavours now emerging in the fruit. With a week of
perfect autumn weather forecast, I suspect most of our Shiraz will be harvested
over the next ten days. We employ mainly hand harvesting on our Shiraz and,
tend to pick small batches at a time. The fruit is gently crushed into open
fermenters, leaving a lot of whole berries in the ferment, which offers a soft
extraction of flavours and tannin.
The
Cabernet Sauvignon is also looking great with excellent early flavour
development. The warm days and cool nights are perfect for finishing off this
variety which loves a bit of 'hang time' on the vine to achieve full
physiological ripeness and concentration of flavour.
Cheers,
Steve James.
