Tuesday 24 February 2015
And so vintage continues in all its glory! We’re well over half way through it all now - but things certainly won’t be slowing down any time soon!
More barrels to be filled, all the fermenters are full & all need pumping over - and there’s still more fruit on its way (most of it Grenache this week).
The 1847 Shiraz, which was picked last Wednesday, is looking mighty, mighty fine. The colour from this is just outstanding & we’re all excitedly waiting for a first look at it post-fermentation.
Peaches has decided he’d like to make an addition to the Vintage ‘uniform’ - pink shorts to match the flannel top... Stylish! Although it is probably fairly practical with all the pink/red stains accrued during vintage work - they’ll all just blend in!
Wednesday 25 February 2015
Continuing Grenache week we have 15.4 tonne in from one of our growers today - most of which is again immediately crushed for our iconic Prince of Pink.
Christie & I head to the city today - with the very important task of selecting the equipment for the new kitchen (which is all painted, sealed & ready to go!). We come out with a lovely 90cm cooker & range - all ready to be collected & installed next week.
While we’re in the city we also start scouting for new venues for our Pop-Up Cellar Door… If anyone knows of a great, quirky space in the CBD we could make our own for the night - please drop us a line!
Also in the city - at the Royal Croquet Club with Rip It Up - I meet a lovely lady who suggests we christen the new kitchen by cooking a turkey - Olga, I think you’re onto a winner there - thanks for the suggestion (and I do hope we can see you & Ryan here in the Barossa soon!)
Thursday 26 February 2015
More Grenache… The winery guys are starting to forget what day of the week it is - they’re all blending into one. A pretty good barometer for just how tired they’re getting is the quality of the winery ‘in-jokes’… Yep. They’re tired! (but they are still all having fun, and that’s what really matters, right?)
It feels like every possible vintage process is happening at once at the moment - harvesting, crushing, pressing, pumping into tanks, pumping out of tanks, digging out the fermenters, cleaning out the press, the crusher, the fermenters, the floors, the drains & then the floors again, washing the barrels, filling the barrels, playing darts (hang on, no, they’re not playing darts - they MUST be busy!), testing baume of grapes from remaining vineyards, testing ferments, inoculating ferments, stopping ferments… It’s tough just writing about it (well, actually it is getting tough to try not to get in their way - whilst still walking around the winery asking ‘heeey - what are you doing there?”!)
Friday 27 February 2015
Mataro! In the middle of Grenache-week? What are you doing here? A nice little change up - with Mataro from our Stonewell block coming into the winery today, along with a small parcel of neighbouring Grenache. A change is as good as a holiday, right? (hmmm apparently the guys don’t agree with me on this one - oh well!)
…do you remember that little experiment that had us all out in the winery hand-sorting Shiraz bunches? Ah yes, that one! (no, not the one I mentioned last week - we have 2 happening!) Well, we’re pleased to report it’s doing all the right things - we’re just a couple of months away from the finished product… Now it’s time for us in the creative department to put our thinking caps on & start this new label design. Hmmmm.
Saturday 28 February 2015
…and we’re back to Grenache. It’s hard & it’s hot work out there today in the winery - but it is lovely & cool in Cellar Door (small comfort for our winery crew - but oh-so-welcoming for our visitors!)
Sunday 1 March 2015
…another Sunday, another (brief) reprieve from deliveries. Today we’re on skeleton staff with Mark & Peaches coming in for a few hours to tend to the existing ferments. Time for a well-earned beer & sleep-in guys!
Monday 2 March 2015
The guys are in for another early start (& Peaches took the stunning sunrise photos to prove it) for more Grenache (well, it does feature heavily -if not solely- in 3 of our wines!). 3 parcels from 3 different local growers come throughout the day.
Mark tries to initiate me into cellar work, but I must look so hopelessly inept that Baz steps in & takes over (thanks Baz!)
And it’s MONDAY! By now I’m sure you know what that means - Morning Tea By Jo! Today’s effort is a dense and delightful pumpkin, polenta & cranberry cake inspired from a recipe in this month’s the Adelaide Review, but with a few experiments and tweaks because, well, that’s just how Jo is (and why we love her cakes so!)
Until next week- Cheers!
Emily Hay
