Harvest report from Voyager Estate - Part two

We have nearly completed our Chardonnay harvest with only one small block remaining. The vineyard team have been steadily handpicking each morning for the past 10 days and, have brought in some of the most outstanding Chardonnay fruit we have ever seen. 

The flavor development and concentration at such low sugar levels has the team very excited by the potential quality of the harvest. The Chardonnay fruit is all hand harvested and whole bunch pressed, with the free run juice being transferred to French oak barrels for natural fermentation.

This season has seen the introduction of some larger format oak barrels in the form of puncheons which we are using on our Chardonnay and Shiraz. The 500 litre puncheons will offer us the textural benefits of barrel maturation with slightly less oak influence on the resultant wine.

We have commenced the fruit intake of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, with the first hand pick of Semillon completed this morning and some machine harvested fruit coming in this evening. This is the point where the vineyard and winery teams split into two shifts, as we begin working day and night  to harvest these varieties. The machine picking is done during the cool of the evening and early morning, to ensure these aromatic white varieties are at their freshest and most vibrant.

The weather conditions are close to perfect with a continuation of warm days and cool nights the norm for the week ahead.

It is certainly looking like one of the strongest white wine vintages for a long time -  I think some really special wines will be made!

Harvest report from Voyager Estate - Part one

Our first harvest of Chardonnay on the 3^rd of February was the earliest start to harvest we have experienced at Voyager Estate.

The Chardonnay vines have been tracking early all season and the very quick flowering in November set the scene for a potentially early start to harvest.

The ripening weather has been warm to mild with no excessive heat and, the nights have been very cool – perfect conditions for the steady ripening of the white fruit.

If the pleasant mild conditions hold, we should see our Chardonnay fruit steadily harvested over the next 10 to 14 days. This nice steady ripening allows us the luxury of handpicking small select parcels at perfect levels of ripeness.

The early flavour development at very low sugar levels has been amazing and, the grapes are retaining excellent natural acidity.

The Chardonnay fruit is all handpicked and chilled down overnight before whole bunch pressing and is then transferred to barrel for fermentation.

Early days, however I cannot recall our team being more excited by the quality of fruit we are seeing at the moment!