We’re nearly ready!
For some reason this seems to have been one of the busiest seasons in recent past. The work needed to make sure we have the vineyard ready for a great vintage has required extra special care and a lot of attention to detail. We have had many passes through the vineyard with our vineyard team shoot thinning and leaf plucking to get the right balance and fruit exposure to light. We have carefully fruit thinned and taken away bunches that were not looking right for that final ripening.
However thanks to a warm dry latter half of Summer we are ready! The bunch weights are looking good, ripening is a little later than last year but the fruit will benefit from that little longer on the vine. Below is a picture from Vineyard Manager Rich Williams – which we have done each year – of the various varietals and clones on the vineyard. As you can see, the bunches are looking great, still some final colour to come into the Pinot Noir clones that do seem to finish a little later. Berry sizes are nice and we’re looking forward to getting started. The wager is that we’ll start harvest Tuesday after Easter – which will make it one of the later starts for us – but that’s up to Olly. After all, Winemakers do have the final say….:)
Andy