Tuesday 10 February 2015

Looooong day for the guys today! Shiraz (harvested at midnight!) from Stonewell comes in today. The best bunches are hand sorted to fill a small flex-cube tank for an interesting little experiment (will this be 2015’s answer to Gobble:Gobble… we’ll have to wait & see!). This labour-intensive process takes Mark, Peaches, Alex & Baz 4 ½ hours (Oh, and with some help from yours truly - do you think 45 minutes has earned me my ‘vintage stripes’?!) The remaining Shiraz goes through the de-stemmer & into the tanks.

The Dolcetto which has been in the tanks since Wednesday last week is pressed.

…Event prep gets really underway - 1800 hessian circles need to be traced, ironed & then cut out.

Wednesday 11 February 2015

Roussanne from all of 200m from the winery doors comes in early this morning (although at the somewhat respectable hour of 8am!) Phillip from Cellar Door begins his Vintage stint in the lab, so Wendy’s here to greet our customers. With her comes Charlie-Weekend-Wine-Dog to play with Webber… and so the canine antics begin! Tracy & Pete of Harvest Kitchen come in for a menu tasting for the up-coming Secret Garden Party - and we all subsequently nurse food-babies for the rest of the afternoon. Safe to say we’re really excited about the menu we’ll be sharing with you - and we promise not to fight you for that caramel popcorn…

…1020 hessian circles cut - 780 to go!

Thursday 12 February 2015

A ‘quiet’ day on the intake front - with Grenache from Tanunda Hill destined for our Rosé brought in. Of course it’s not just as simple as crushing the one intake - the winery is still filling fast & it all needs attention - multiple times a day. Tomorrow is shaping up to be one heck of a day too - so I guess it’s be nice for the guys to get an ‘early’ night….

Friday 13 February 2015

…who says Friday the 13th means bad luck? It may be getting (VERY) hectic around here & the guys may be working some (VERY) long hours - but the fruit quality is still looking great - so there’s nothing to worry about, right? The East-West Shiraz block on the Bethany Estate (which has bounced back remarkably well from its dramatic cut-back 2 years ago) is hand-picked The crusher just hasn’t stopped all day - well, that is except for that well-timed break around noon to allow for Friday pub-lunch! (who can blame them really, a vintage really is run on the winery team’s stomachs!)

…The final hessian circle is cut - all 1853 at final count. Now let the sewing begin!

Saturday 14 February 2015

Happy Valentines Day boys - your true loves await your tender, loving care today! More fruit to be crushed, more tanks to be pumped over, more to press, more to clean, more testing to be done… The portable tanks get employed today - they may not be overly pretty, but they’re still doing the job!

Sunday 15 February 2015

Holy heat-wave Batman! It’s hot & hard work out there and it certainly doesn’t stop because it’s a weekend - but as we (who have weekends off & sit in air-conditioned comfort all day) like to remind them ‘ummm - it IS vintage guys - you know, when you earn your dart-playing time for the rest of the year?!’ (and then we make them coffee & make them cake - because happy winery team = happy life, right?) Grenache for Rosé & Shiraz for dry red both come in today.

Monday 16 February 2015

…Vintage has hit critical mass - the music selection is getting more & more shall we say… ‘fun’ with each passing hour. Webber is spending more & more time with his head resting on my knee while he sits under my desk. Poor boy - let’s take a moment to think of the other type of ‘vintage widow’, the winery dogs.

Let's not forget the BEST thing about Mondays - morning tea by Jo! Today she's served up a delicious, dense & oh-so-moreish date cake. Mark (after his 2nd slice) predicts this one's not going to last long!

Today is all about Shiraz - the colour from the Stonewell Shiraz whole bunch pressing is just outstanding! More shiraz from the Turkey Flat estate is harvested & crushed.

In big Cellar Door news the new POS is on its way! OK, I'll admit that's probably not as exciting to you as it is to us - but to us -- Yeehah!

The new kitchen renovations are nearing completion. The painting & new steps are finished - all that we’re waiting on now are the benches & the oven!

...Until next week - Cheers!

Emily Hay