Last year we picked this same Shiraz on the 4th of March & transferred it into our fermenters on a 38°C day. We had to use around 200kg of ice to cool the fruit down.
This year we picked the Shiraz on the 1st of April, transferred it into our fermenters on a 21°C day & didn’t need to cool it at all. Just another reminder of how much difference a year makes. Welcome to farming!
As with last year we’re doing a couple of different ferments. One with whole berries and a couple of our stalk teabags, the other with around 2/3rds whole bunches topped up with whole berries. We’re looking for spice & tannin from the stalks, perfume, and, layering of tannin and flavours from the whole berries and bunches.
The fruit was sorted at picking firstly by pickers, and, then when being loaded into the fruit bins to make sure in damaged bunches, wasps were bad this year, or second crop (bunches that are not as ripe from a later flowering occuring after the primary flowering) didn’t make it through.
Dylan’s destemmer at Seville Estate then mechanically sorted, and, we removed petioles (leaf stems), leaves, and, matter other than grapes (MOG).
As we transferred the fruit into fermenters we pick out anything else that we missed. Then the all important task of eating cheese and drinking vino!
Big shout out to Dylan, Dom, Greig, Matthew and Barney for Coming to Play!
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