°The Shiraz has been sitting it’s Bathtubs for just a day. It’s time to take a sample and measure the sugar level. It’ll tell us the potential alcohol the wine will end up with.
This year it looks like we’ll hit around 13.5% alcohol.
We’re using different fermenters this year. A 500L fermenter with about 400kg of fruit in it, 250kg as whole bunches. A 1,000L stainless steel ferementer with 900kg of fruit as whole berries and few of our stalk tea bags in it.
The ferments are at 16°C with no activity from yeast. This is giving us a nice slow start to fermentation allowing a period of time where extraction of colour, flavour and aroma from the skins is occurring at a cold temperature in a water-based environment. Later in the fermentation extraction will be in a warmer environment with lots of alcohol present.
Our aim is to make a wine with a beautiful texture, with complexity, a perfumed, spicy, rich aroma and flavour. The techniques we apply during the making process are with this aim in mind.
Every day we’ll be tasting, monitoring temperature, sugar levels, and, physical state of the fruit to inform how we manage the fermentations and help us decide when to press.
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