Scott McWilliam's Vintage Report
Introduction
I cannot believe another year has passed and it is harvest time again. It seems that I was only watching the 2005 ferments yesterday and my purple hands only just managed to assume their normal colour. Well, as they say: “Time flies when you are having fun.” And it has certainly been an exciting and fun year. The Hunter Valley, 2 hours north of Sydney, is now my permanent home. After having spent the last few years in various regions around Australia and the world, I am looking forward to intimately get to know one region.
In the past 6 months, the weather in most of Australia’s wine areas has been mild. Spring brought drought breaking rains to many of the regions and resulted in healthy vines and a good bunch set. In mid December temperatures soared, however, resulting in the hottest month on record. This has stressed some of the vines a little. Small amounts of stress can be good, however, especially for reds, since it results in smaller and more flavoursome berries.
All these past months were spent tending to the vines and trying to get everything just right. Pruning properly, thinning bunches, fertilising and watering just the right amounts. If we didn’t get it right in those months, there is no help for us now. Just like the apple tree at home, who doesn’t deliver good apples if the old shoots aren’t cut off in winter and the tree isn’t fertilised in spring, the grapevines surely won’t reward us with good fruit if we haven’t looked after them. Our Rosehill vineyard in the Hunter Valley underwent some severe pruning to remove some of the dead wood of the very old vines; as a result, more sunshine is now getting through to the new arms. We also re-trellised our Old Hill vineyard and spread new top soil, to revive and nurture the oldest of our vines, which are over 125 years old.
Although preparations for harvest are in full swing, after the ‘lazy’ holiday season, it takes a while to get up to full speed again.
Christmas this year was incredibly hot. With temperatures over 100°F, the only sensible thing to do after eating an enormous Christmas lunch of roast turkey, ham and pudding, was to veg out under the air conditioner and not move. The ensuing 5 days weren’t any more productive, with the traditional Christmas 5-day Cricket match to watch.
The week of gluttony has, however, recharged our batteries for the busy and strenuous months to come.
At the moment, what happens in the vineyard is all important. With the recent heat, the grapes are ripening nicely and we are anticipating the first ones to fully ripen by Australia Day, the 26th of January. Up until then and through harvest the critical issues are water and disease management. Those vineyards that are watered need to receive just the right amount, so that vines aren’t stressed from too little or berries don’t split from too much.
As the weather in the Hunter Valley can be quite humid, we also need to watch closely for any signs of disease, such as mildew. Botrytis Cinerea is a common mould which actually plays a vital part in the production of luscious dessert wines. For the grapes destined for other wines, however, it is completely undesirable. In the past, rose bushes were planted at the end of rows, because the rose is much more susceptible to the common diseases than the grapevine and acted as a warning system. Nowadays, the roses are just for decorative purposes.
I now make regular trips into the vineyards to check on the health of the vines, to take berry samples for sugar and acid level analysis and to taste the berries. As well as the right sugar and acid levels, I am looking for the ideal flavour balance and intensity and for the tannins in the seeds to diminish. As the berries ripen, the seeds oxidise and change from their initial bright green colour to brown and their bitterness reduces.As well as embarking on forays into the vineyards, the winery needs to be cleaned and remaining harvest supplies need to be ordered. The most anxiously anticipated delivery is that of our new oak barrels, which is also our most precious.
Whilst getting ready for the new harvest, the older wines can’t be forgotten. Some of the 2005 reds are currently being racked from barrel and being lightly filtered. The barrels are washed and the wine is then returned for further maturation.
2006 February: 1 4 7 9 11 14 16 18 20 21 23 24 27
2006 March: 1 2 6 8 9 13 15 22 23 27 31
2006 April: 23
After the scorching heat over the Christmas and New Year period, we finally got some relief. The weather in the last ten days has been a little cooler and very overcast, but we have had only very little rain. It is very frustrating to see large black clouds rolling
overhead that just don’t seem to want to relinquish their precious water. Especially if the clouds are moving towards the ocean, where the rain will most certainly fall and be ‘wasted’. The 9mm we did manage to get did little to soften the soil. Instead, we had some concerns due to the humidity. Thankfully, our vineyard manager, Peter, is a perfectionist and has given our vineyards much love and attention. There is no disease in sight! In the last few days he has even had the boys out in the vineyard shooting those pesky rabbits and hares that have taken a liking to the vine leaves that are lower to the ground.
The cooler weather has caused the photosynthesis to slow down and the grapes are now ripening a little later than first thought. It looks like this year will not be a repeat of last years ripening record, when most of the varieties ripened at the same time. This should give us all a few much needed breathers and, most importantly, time to think about the tasks at hand.
The grapes are looking really good so far. The Semillon has good berry size and is displaying some lovely citrus and straw characters. The Chardonnay is also showing great flavours. At this stage it looks like a great year for whites, but probably not quite as good as the awesome 2005 vintage. The Shiraz is through veraison now and the Merlot is nearly finished also, but it will be picked a lot later than the Shiraz (around 3 weeks). The reds are also looking very promising, with nice flavour concentration.
The year following such a perfect harvest as last year is always nervously anticipated and places a lot of pressures on the winemakers. The standards are always set by the good years, which means we have to work a lot harder and utilise all our skills and talents to obtain similar results in years where mother nature doesn’t spoil us as much.
In the cellar we are still getting ourselves ready. All the temporary harvest staff has now commenced and we are again a colourful group of people from all corners of the country. The amount of new people in the cellar means that the cellar master and us winemakers have been busy inducting everyone in the processes of our winery. That said; I had to do some training myself the other day. I had to obtain my forklift licence, so that I can safely and legally zoom around the winery shifting barrels, tanks or any overly exhausted winemakers… It was tough studying for a test again, which also turned out to be a lot harder than I anticipated. However, I am happy to say that I am now the proud owner of a brand new forklift licence.
So the time spent waiting for the grapes to ripen is definitely not idly wasted away. The cellar boys are definitely working up a sweat completing all those little cleaning and maintenance jobs necessary so that everything runs like clockwork from the moment harvest begins.
With all this hard work and hot weather, a few of the cellar hands have recently taken to removing their shirts whilst working. I am sure it’s the Kiwis and Victorians that aren’t used to the sweltering conditions up here… Well, cellar hand “Little Jack” was entering a confined space to remove screens from a pneumatic press and discarded his shirt beforehand. As he toiled in the dimly lit and sound muffling press, he was unaware of the winery tour group which was receiving an explanation of the mechanics and operation of the press. Subsequently, a half naked “Little Jack” slowly emerged from the underside of the press to the Ohh’s and Ahh’s of a startled and bemused tour group containing a handful of blushing and chuckling young girls. Equally startled and embarrassed “Little Jack” quickly fumbled for his attire, whilst his fellow workmate, who conveniently failed to warn him, doubled over with laughter.
The 2006 harvest has officially started! The Hunter Valley never fails to leave
the starting block first and all the other regions around Australia will now
follow suit; some sooner than others. The slightly cooler weather conditions
didn’t slow down the ripening process as much as initially anticipated and
harvest has commenced around the time we predicted before the weather change; in
fact, two days ahead of Australia Day.
It is exciting to have begun another harvest. Undoubtedly, the next few weeks
will be filled with many triumphs, trials and tribulations. Our first grapes
were Semillon from our own Middle Creek vineyard. I am very happy with the
quality of the first fruit, which is so far looking like a “classic year”. It
does tend to settle the nerves a little when the first delivery is of good
quality. However, with Mother Nature as a major determining factor, I will hold
my horses and not go shouting from the rooftops just yet.
As always, I am still continuously making excursions to the vineyards and
closely monitoring the fruit. We tested the Pinot Noir grapes today and
discovered that it has had a dramatic increase in sugar levels in the last week.
This is coming as a small surprise, and we will have to pick as soon as
possible. All the other varieties are ripening steadily. Because of the heat and
lack of water, we are seeing a markedly reduced berry size due to evaporation.
As a result, the reds are looking very promising.
Smaller berries tend to have
higher concentrations of flavours. Due to the higher skin to pulp ratio, the
tannin and colour is more intense also. The Shiraz is currently at 10 baume (or
18 Brix, approx 10.5% potential alcohol) and will be ready in about two weeks
time, the Merlot shortly after that. The difference in the appearance of the
bunches is quite obvious from only two weeks ago.
The weather forecast is for more hot spells over the next week or so. We are
expecting some good ripening if it doesn’t get too hot. This would cause the
photosynthesis to stop and the leaves to turn. We are still crossing our fingers
with regards to disease in the vineyard due to the humidity, but we have had
some light breezes lately which help to dry out the vines preventing mould
growth.
Even a winemaker during crazy season needs to celebrate Australia Day. So we decided to work late yesterday in order to enjoy a day of unbridled celebration. We completed all our jobs around midnight and headed off to bed with one last free day ahead of us.
Australia Day is our national day and it is usually spent in the backyard with lots of friends and family, a barbie (barbeque that is) and a game of backyard cricket or two. I headed down to Sydney to catch up with my friends and to watch some of the celebrations on Sydney harbour, which is always spectacular. The harbour is filled with boats of all shapes and sizes, and generally includes a replica of the ‘first fleet’ also. Those that are not lucky enough to have a boat, flock to the parks around the water to have a picnic. During the day, lots of fun events are held, like the surfboard paddling race, where contestants have to paddle for 2 km.
top
The river runs red!
While harvest is now well and truly in full swing, we have still been racking and returning the 2005 reds. The casual cellar hands are taking to the new infrastructure and equipment well this year and are interested in doing a wide variety of tasks. One of the cellar hands, Ice cream boy, was particularly interested in the rack and returning task. He diligently racked his barrels into tank and prepared to return the wine back into barrel. He set up all the equipment and carefully watched and listened to the demonstration carried out by me. Being new to the winery, he was determined to complete the task perfectly. Confident of his abilities and wild determination, I left him to the task and proceeded to my next job. Five minutes later I was on top of a tank inspecting the fill height when frantic movements and splashing noises down below caught my attention. I peered down only to see ‘Ice Cream Boy’ trying to control a flailing hose which was spraying red wine violently into the air and all over the freshly cleaned white cellar wall. I observed him wrestling with the “vicious anaconda”, whilst desperately trying to stop the pump via the remote control. He was completely drenched in red wine and looked rather pitiful. He was also furious with himself about the blunder and vowed to be more careful in future. He has also been very selective in regards to the colour of his work shirt since…
The winery is now abuzz with activity and closely resembles a Los Angeles
highway junction, with ‘wine super highways’ looping and snaking their way
into every imaginable corner of the winery. This means 4am starts for some
and late night finishes for others. The winemakers, of course, have to be
there for most of the time, leaving them with only memories of their
comfortable beds and loving families. I remember one of my particularly
dedicated uncles bringing a mattress to the winery and setting up camp there
for the duration of harvest. The early and late hours provide some relief
from the relentless heat, but the strain of the conditions is showing not
only on some of the vines but also on our workers. They are still resorting
to working without their shirts on, despite the occasional encounters with
the winery tours, which are curiously popular at the moment.
The white grapes have nearly all been harvested. The first of the whites
have already
finished fermentation in stainless steel tanks and are now
being transferred to barrel. I just returned from having a look at the Lovedale old vine Semillon (our best Sem) and it looks fantastic. The crows
know which grapes taste best and they have started to swarm all over the
vineyard. Subsequently, we took the shotgun with us and fired off a few
rounds to scare the birds away. The birds are a more prominent problem this
year; probably due to the lack of water, which has resulted in less grass
and other plants available for them to feed on.
The Shiraz vines are still healthy and the grapes are nearly ready. We will
pick a few bins to start with and see what sugar level we will achieve in
the fermenter. The flavours are just peaking and the seeds are starting to
ripen.
We harvested some of our Rosehill Shiraz today. Our orange and yellow team
of industrious pickers (named after the colour of their safety jackets)
swarmed all over the vineyard at the crack of dawn. Peter, our
viticulturalist, had pitched the two teams against each other in a
competition in order to speed up the picking process. The winning team was
set to win a bottle each of a previous vintage of the wine they were
picking. Once picked, the grapes made their short journey to the winery, where the grapes were
de-stemmed and then gently crushed and transferred to stainless
steel fermentation tanks. The must (the mix of grape skins, pulp and juice)
will now be held at cool temperatures for approximately 48 hours. This is
called a ‘cold soak’, which allows for extra skin contact without
fermentation. This results in different flavors, adding complexity to the
finished wine. The Rosehill fruit is currently showing an abundance of the
typical raspberry, spicy flavours and the acid, tannin and flavour balance.
I got soaked today by a young cellar hand who was pushing water through a transfer line on the catwalk on top of the tanks. I walked around the corner and ‘whoosh’, about 50L of water doused me from head to toe. All I had to do to remedy the situation was to stand outside for a few minutes and I was dry again. It is lucky, however, that it was water and not juice otherwise I might have started fermenting or the bees would have made a meal of me!
top
I awoke today to the sound of my blinds flapping in a lovely cool southerly breeze. The slow moving high has finally moved into the ocean and has given way to decent temperatures. I think the whole winery breathed a sigh of relief this morning and there was a new spring in everyone’s step. We can now bring the grapes in at cooler temperatures, which will require less chilling. Our compressors for the cooling system are relieved from some of their strain they have been under due to all the fermentation. Fermentation causes the evolution of lots of heat. Without cooling, the ferment would continue to heat up resulting in more rapid fermentation. This is not desirable, as all the fruit esters produced during fermentation ‘boil off’ at high temperatures resulting in less complex wines. We are very lucky to have the advances of technology these days. In my grandfather’s day, cooling was unavailable and, in exceptionally hot summers, he resorted to throwing big blocks of ice into the ferment, essentially watering the wine down. When I taste the Cabernet Sauvignon of the exceptionally hot 1968 summer today, I am amazed at the flavour concentration, quality and longevity of that wine, knowing that the methods of production would cause uproar today.
top
The cool weather has held over the last few days, but what is really needed at the moment is a good ‘gully washer’, as our Mount Pleasant chief winemaker Phil Ryan calls it. In his entire 40 year career with McWilliam’s he has not experienced a harvest as hot and dry as this. In fact, digging back through the records of time in a quiet moment, I discover that it hasn’t been this dry for at least 50 years. One of the 90 year old winemaking veterans in the valley tells me that he also does not remember a vintage like this.
The Hunter Valley is characterized by its intermittent and violent thunderstorms that freshen the air and revive the flora and fauna without causing any damage (unless it hails, of course). Thunderstorms provide the vines with a much needed drink, but do not cause the berries to swell up with water excessively. This is also prevented by the characteristics of our vineyards here in the valley. Our red vineyards are largely planted on the mountain rising behind the winery; a rich, red volcanic soil that provides excellent drainage. Our white grapes mostly grow on the valley floor, an old seabed, with lean, sandy soils that do not retain much moisture. To have such a dry summer,
where it hasn’t rained properly since the end of November, certainly throws up some challenges. This is the main challenge of winemakers: to craft an excellent wine from whatever nature decides to send their way; to know the flavour and structure resulting from different weather patterns and apply winemaking techniques that enhance and complement these flavours.The white wines this year are looking more like the traditional style of earlier 2000 vintages, with more lemon sherbet notes and less of the grassy characteristics of the recent cooler vintages.
Even though the Shiraz berries are small, they abound with rich flavours. The skins are a deep black ebony color, retaining the fruit until it is harvested. The few parcels that have already been harvested have stained the crusher pit a deep purple. To work with the increased flavour concentration, we will be picking the grapes at approximately 13-14 baumé (approx. 23.5 – 25 brix), less than their counterparts in the Barossa Valley, for example. This will result in a red wine characteristic of the region: typical medium bodied, yet complex.
top
I have been understandably preoccupied with the Hunter Valley harvest in the past few weeks. Much of our winemaking philosophy revolves around the art of regional blending. Our Hanwood Estate wines are careful blends of grapes from our vineyards across Australia. This presents our consumers not only with a kaleidoscope of Australian flavours, but also ensures the best wines possible in any given year. I love the fact that we have vineyard holdings in a diverse range of viticultural regions. It presents me with a myriad of different flavours to work with. Much like an artist, who rejoices in the ability to create an endless array of colours through the combination of primary colours, I rejoice in the combination of flavours which create new synergies.
Coonawarra
I had a good chat to my winemaker friend, Pete, at our Coonawarra winery today, catching up to see how things are going. The Coonawarra region also experienced a very hot December and early January, resulting in a much faster initial ripening period. Late January and February has been typical of the cool Coonawarra climate, with warm days and cool nights, providing a nice long ripening period for optimum flavour development. Pete anticipates harvest will be approximately two weeks early this year, around the first week of March. The early harvest means that the winery is now scrambling to get ready in time. Pete is getting last year’s Chardonnay ready for bottling, which will free up some tanks for a brand new vintage. For the first time they are also bottling some small parcels of Reserve Cabernet and Merlot on site.
top
The harvest of the Shiraz grapes is in full swing. The Rosehill Shiraz has all been harvested and we are now bringing in the Old Paddock and Old Hill Shiraz. The harvest of these vines is always anxiously awaited. These two vineyards, one on the slopes of Mount Pleasant behind the winery and one on the gentle hills beside the winery, house some of our oldest and also most precious Shiraz vines. The oldest vines were planted in 1880 by the first owner of the land and then tended to by the legendary Australian winemaker Maurice O’Shea. From the 6.7 hectare vineyard we will harvest, approximately eight tons of fruit. Because the vines are so old, they are extremely low yielding, however, they produce fruit of exceptional quality. Since the horse and plough of the olden days did not require as much space as the tractors of modern times, the vineyard once had twice the amount of vines on it. Eventually every alternate row was removed to make way for technology.
top
The Old Paddock & Old Hill is now happily fermenting away. The colour concentration of the juice this year is excellent. It has turned a deep, vibrant purple and so have most of the workers… The juice needs to be pumped-over three times a day, which never occurs without a fair amount of splashing. The pump-over technique is the pumping of the grape juice over the grape skins. This is one of the winemaking techniques we utilize in red wine making to extract colours and flavours.
In red wine, it is the grape skins that impart the colour and tannin into the wine. It is therefore essential that we maximize the contact of the skins with the grape juice. Depending on the style of wine, the amount of pump-overs and the length of time we utilize this method varies. Once the Old Paddock & Old Hill Shiraz has fermented to a certain sugar level, we will stop the pump-overs and submerge the grape skins under the liquid with the help of big metal screens. This is a gentler method of extraction, which we will utilize until the wine has fermented to dryness, in other words, until no sugar is left in the wine.
top
Since we are not crushing this weekend, I had a chance to get a little rest this morning. I made an attempt at cleaning the stains, evidence of a busy winemaker, off of my hands. The ripening of the grapes is happening at a very staggered pace this year and we are currently waiting for the last of the Shiraz and Merlot to ripen. All the old vine fruit has been brought in and is happily fermenting away. Since old vines produce much less fruit than the younger vines, ripening tends to occur slightly earlier.
I had some important visitors to entertain today. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade brought out a couple of top journalists from Germany and the Netherlands to promote Australia, in these countries. The journalists are on a whirlwind tour to meet the Prime Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and to get an impression of Australian lifestyle, museums, agriculture and landscapes. The Department chose McWilliam’s as one of the destinations. This is a great honor for us, because it means that the government considers us as an iconic representation of Australia.
top
The rains have arrived in spectacular fashion, with a fanfare of lightning
and thunder that make your hairs stand on end. Night came in the middle of
the day, with pitch black skies and thick gray curtains of rain that lit up
every few seconds with majestic lightning. As much as I have been lamenting
about the lack of rain this season, every winemaker will lament just as much
about too much rain mid-season. We are sometimes a little bit hard to
please, but much like parents we only want the best for our ‘babies’…!
Fortunately, most of our grapes have already been harvested and the
remaining crop should not be detrimentally affected.
As if intentional, the thunder and lightning provided a spectacular ‘drum
roll’ for the news that McWilliam’s has just been announced as the Most
Successful Exhibitor at the Royal Sydney Wine Show for the 12th consecutive
year. Competing against thousands of other Australian wineries, our wines
won the most medals and trophies. In Australia, medals and trophies are a
well respected and much followed indication of quality. Therefore, winning
such an accolade for so many consecutive years is a ‘big deal’ for us. And,
of course, it is lovely for us winemakers to get a pat on the back by the
industry’s great palates.
top
What a busy day….We received fruit from several different vineyards today,
which filled up most of the available space in the winery. My alarm clock
rang much too early today, and I dragged myself out of bed to arrive at the
winery before the cellar boys. I have to be the first one to arrive because
it is my responsibility to organize the work orders of the day. These work
orders include laboratory analysis, juice/wine movements, cold settling,
barrel movements, pump-overs, and the pressing schedule.
Then I organized the incoming fruit and completed all of the analysis and
additions. Once all of that was done I actually went out in the cellar and
got stuck into helping out, which I always do. I spent a few hours doing
pump-overs and shoveling grape marc. Around 11am I finally had a chance to
have breakfast, whilst making a few phone calls. Then it was back to the
cellar until lunch time, when Phil, Andrew and I went through all the
ferments to judge their progress and make changes to some of the wines’
processes if necessary.
Next I conducted a sugar analysis on some of the older ferments. Just after
lunch my wife called to say that the loo (toilet) had broken and asked if I
would be able to come home and fix it. Before I had time to even consider
going home, I had to deal with a few emergencies at the winery. Once I
handled the emergencies, all extracurricular responsibilities were
forgotten. My next tasks were to organize the afternoon shift’s work
schedule of clean-ups and pump-overs, and ensure that all of the yeast and
oak requirements for tomorrow would be available. Somehow during the day I
also found time to enter all of the work orders and wine movements into the
computer…where does my day go?!
I couldn’t believe when it was already time for the afternoon tasting of all
the ferments! At the height of vintage, we have around 25 or so ferments to
taste. This increases as vintage progresses, especially once we move the
wines into barrel. Once I completed all of the tastings, my dad called to
get an update on how everything was progressing, Marketing called to ask for
some tasting notes (and could I please write them up as soon as possible),
and…. Oh, my wife called again to say that she had managed to do the repairs
herself. Whew!
Finally my day is ending and I am now completely exhausted. . .
top
The flood gates have truly opened with steady rain falling from the early
morning hours. I escaped most of the bad weather because I had to venture
down to Sydney to entertain a group of American visitors. We all had dinner
at Manly Beach, one of Sydney’s and Australia’s most well-known beaches.
It was a night symbolic of true Aussie lifestyle: a dinner of barramundi (a
uniquely Australian fish) and lamb on the beach, accompanied by Hanwood
Estate Riesling and Shiraz and the Australian equivalent of Baywatch, a
group of surf lifesavers practicing their rowing skills in the water, all
framed by a magnificent rainbow.
top
Thanks to a contingent of VIP visitors, we conducted a vertical tasting of
Semillon and Shiraz today. The oldest Semillon was a 1984 vintage and the
oldest Shiraz a 1990. It was a great opportunity for the visitors, as well
as the winemakers, to taste these wines
since the older vintages are
obviously very rare and precious and don’t make an appearance at tastings
very often. Usually my father makes sure that they are kept under lock and
key in his cellar. If it was possible, I am sure he would have them
protected by magical charms worthy of a Harry Potter book. I remember my
great uncle Stuart telling me that as a young boy he once fell into a vat of
one of our prized red wines. His father fished him out and sent him home
with the instruction to clean up and tell his mother to wring out his
clothes and send the wine back!
Once the tasting finished we invited some of the cellar staff to taste the
wines too. I think it is very important to involve all levels of staff in
every aspect of the winemaking industry as much as possible. A lot of the
cellar staff, who give their sweat, blood and tears to make the wines, never
actually get the chance to taste the fruits of their labour. More often than
not, these opportunities often create a deeper interest in and understanding
of their work because they can put it all in perspective.
It is amazing how quickly nature revives itself, even from a period of prolonged drought. The valley has turned lovely and green within the space of only a few days.
Grasses and bushes are scrambling to make the most of
the available water while it lasts. The resident kangaroo population is
happy, and they can now be seen at dawn and dusk grazing amongst the vines.
I have not been having any luck trying to capture them on camera, however.
The most spectacular display of nature’s abilities to cope with such harsh
conditions is probably in the Australian outback, where wildflowers cover
the expanses of the barren land within a few days of the first rain. The Hunter Valley harvest is approaching its end, which means it is time for the annual sales team visit. Every year, a group of our sales people visits us at the winery for educational purposes. The happy “posse” arrived for what they thought were a couple of days of wine and food tasting and educational seminars. However, there is no such thing as a free lunch as they say, so we put them all to work in the cellar as well as in the vineyard for a few hours each day. After all, there is no better way to learn than to be part of it yourself!
My sister, who works in finance, was amongst the group and couldn’t believe her luck to suddenly find herself working for her bigger brother…
top
Vintage would not be the same without the odd hick-up or two.
A tanker delivering some grapes arrived today. The two compartment truck was only
half loaded, with the entire load contained in the back compartment;
which left the driving wheels with very little weight from above. In order
to reach our loading/unloading dock, the trucks have to negotiate a slight
incline at the side of the winery. The incline proved too much for the
bottom heavy truck. Half way up the slope the weight of the back compartment
caused the front wheels to spin. To the amusement of our staff, the front
part of the truck started to slide back down the slope, causing the truck to
jackknife. The vineyard team sprung to the driver’s help and brought the
tractor across to pull the truck up the slope. But even our trusty tractor
would not budge the truck. Accompanied by the passionate exclamations of the
truck driver, we joined our hoses together and unloaded the truck just
enough so we could move him. Once we had regained control of the situation, Phil and I sat down and tasted all of this year’s wines so far. Phil considers this year’s vintage to be similar to the 1965, 1991, 1998 and 2003 vintages, all vintages which produced outstanding Hunter Valley wines. The whites are surprisingly crisp, displaying vibrant citrus aromas despite the hot conditions. The reds are luscious and rich in colour and tannin, a result of the smaller berry size. Once we add the additional complexities of oak maturation and malolactic fermentation, we will have some truly fine wines emerging.
Now that most of the fruit has been harvested, we can accurately say that yields are down on average about 15%, with reds down slightly more than whites. This spells good news for the winemakers, because it has meant superior quality, but bad news for the bean counters (accountants) and consumers, because there is less to go around.
top
The last of the Merlot has been harvested. The recent rains have not caused
any quality issues as far as we can tell. We have one problem child in a
small section of the Kings paddock, which stretches along the bottom of Mt.
Pleasant, however. The vines have suffered too much from the heat and lack
of water and have started to defoliate. As a result, the sugars are still
low and are not progressing much; even with a little shrivel in the berries.
Well, I guess you can’t always win. Nearly all the whites have finished fermentation now and the majority of the Chardonnay has been moved or is being moved to barrel. Most of the other whites are being cold stabilized and moved into storage for further maturation. The Semillon, however, will stay on gross lees for a few weeks yet. This is a normal practice for Hunter Valley Semillon to fatten the mid palate a little bit but not enough to result in leesy characters and flavours. Many of the reds are also being moved to barrel, to finish fermentation or to undergo secondary fermentation, where the harsh malic acid dominant in wine is converted to the softer lactic acid with the help of special bacteria.
top
The last grapes from the valley were harvested today and winemakers and cellar staff celebrated the milestone with a barbecue. Each year I find myself very melancholic towards the end of vintage, because each year truly great friendships are formed that are invariably broken apart. Luckily, the wine industry is very small and you seem to keep bumping into people throughout the years. Within a week or so this year’s staff will disperse into all corners of the country and the world. Some of the guys are heading to our winery in the Coonawarra, some are off to New Zealand and some are treating themselves to a well-earned break before embarking on new adventures in France, Italy or the US, for example. A few kangaroo steaks and bottles of Hunter red later, all these thoughts were forgotten, however, and the evening turned to true merriment and a few interesting backyard cricket games.
top
I mentioned earlier in the season that much of our philosophy is based on blending, especially regional blending. That means that we are always on the lookout for emerging regions or the discovery of new regions. My dad, who has a pilot’s license, often flies across the country to look at a lot of the smaller, emerging or the forgotten regions. This is how he rediscovered the Hilltops region, a now well-known region about 200 km west of our capital, Canberra. One of the regions we now consider to be very promising is the cool climate region around the town of Orange, 300 km south west of Sydney. Some of Australia’s well-known winemakers are now settling there and setting up their own business. For the past few years, we have been sourcing Shiraz and Cabernet from Orange, which is transported to our winery here and processed. The Shiraz is exclusively reserved for the Hanwood Estate wines. The first of the Orange Shiraz arrived by tanker this morning. This year, while the warmer viticultural regions have had to battle with extremely hot conditions, the cooler climates have had an ideal growing season with warm days and cool nights. This has resulted in a long and even ripening period that has allowed the flavors and sugars to fully develop, without the accelerated acid loss that you find in hot conditions. The juice is a
rich
plum color, with great depth that our hands are a testament of. The juice
displays aromas of soft black fruit and licorice spice. I am very excited
about the quality of the fruit and the resulting wine will add richness,
depth and structure to the Hanwood Estate Shiraz. For a change of pace and to cleanse my palate, I went to a Belgium Beer Tasting in the evening. The Hunter Valley as a tourist destination has a lot to offer to its visitors, and locals are reaping the benefits as well. Apart from wine, cheese and my wife, of course, beer is another one of my great loves. I actually started out my career in fermentation science making beers at home during my university years. Many of my friends were doing the same and so is much of Australia. My father used to make Mulberry wine from our tree in the backyard, unless my sister Karen and I hadn’t already snuck into the tree and eaten all the fruit. He also made ginger beer with great enthusiasm and I loved to watch and help him. My great grandfather’s brother, Jack McWilliam, made his first fermentation experiments as a young boy with watermelons in the back shed and recorded it all in his diaries. According to his musings, most of the corks popped off their bottles because of secondary fermentation, creating a great big mess inside the shed, but causing great merriment. Well, my beer-making years luckily didn’t cause eruptive disasters like that, but I certainly created my fair share of undrinkable experiments...
top
David Eckert, whose TV show “Culinary travels with David Eckert” airs on PBS channels, is on a visit to Australia and has chosen two of our wineries to feature in his show. David and his cameraman arrived yesterday and filming took place today. It was a lovely day in the Hunter Valley, so that viewers across America will be able to see the area at its best.
We spent the day filming at various locations around the winery and vineyard and David chatted with both Phil and I. Since David’s show is all about the culinary soul of the regions he visits, he also spent time cooking with Rowan Williams, our head chef, who produced a delectable Aussie meal in front of the camera.
top
We are already starting to plan ahead and looking at vineyard practices for the coming years. The new buds for a grape crop are set about 18-20 months prior to harvest, so a frost during budburst this year for instance, would not only damage next year’s harvest, but also the following year’s. It is therefore vital for us to be proactive and forward thinking. Currently we are reviewing the result of this year’s harvest, which was characterized by reduced bunch sizes and a subsequent reduction in crop levels, and are considering protective measures for the coming years. We are, for example, considering mushroom compost to replenish the soil with more nutrients to guard against another possible hot and dry year.
Soon we will also be spreading the grape marc, the mixture of grape skins and seeds after pressing, back onto the vineyards to return some of the nutrients back to the soil. It is a philosophy we fervently believe in and have always been practicing.
When I walked into the winery this morning, I was not greeted by the usual industrious and noisy activity of the past weeks, but by a portentous silence. For an instant I was unsure what to make of it, until I remembered that our casual cellar staff has now departed. The silence is not a sign of more docile times, however. On the contrary, rather than handing out instructions, we will now be carrying out most of the jobs ourselves, and the next week or so is promising to be very busy. The ferments with the fruit from Orange still need to be pumped over and there are several fruit deliveries expected within the next week.
Phil says that now is the time to listen to Maurice O’Shea’s ghost who he believes still resides inside the winery. Maurice O’Shea is the legendary winemaker who founded Mount Pleasant Estate in 1921 and is hailed to have been instrumental in Australia’s move towards fine, dry table wines with his genius and unwavering commitment. Many of Maurice’s wines are, albeit over 50 years old, still much sought after by collectors and are still being consumed remarkably well. Phil believes Maurice is wandering about the winery, checking on the wines and making sure that his legacy is upheld. Maurice was so connected to Mount Pleasant and so instrumental in shaping the future of the estate, that I almost believe Phil that his spirit still resides in the winery. As long as he helps me make great wines, rather than sabotaging me, I don’t mind.
Much of our work is now focused on barrel fermentation and maturation. Oak is not just a place to store wine for prolonged periods of time, it actually has several technical uses. As a porous substance, oak allows tiny amounts of oxygen to percolate through the wine. This, and other aspects, helps to stabilise and soften the wine, encouraging the phenolic compounds, especially tannins, to polymerise and create a much rounder mouth feel. In addition, oak also instigates a change in flavour. I often describe oak as the winemaker’s spice rack. Like spices in cooking, it highlights certain flavours in the wine and imparts its own additional flavours. Just as a pinch of sugar in your tomato sauce brings out the richness and sweetness in the tomatoes, oak can have similar synergistic effects on wine.
There has always been a wide variety of choice in the selection of oak. There is oak from French forests, oak from American forests, and more and more so in recent years, oak from Russian and Hungarian forests. Then there is old oak and new oak, oak that has been lightly toasted and oak that has been heavily toasted. Different oaks can smell like vanilla or like coconuts and cinnamon or toast or cedar or cloves.
Consequently, if a wine from the same grapes of a single vineyard and vintage is placed in different barrels, 5 or 10 or more different wines will result. Multiply this by the different varieties and different winemaking techniques and winemakers are presented with an exciting variety of wine that opens up a myriad of blending possibilities. From this impressive base, it is the winemakers’ skill and vision that creates a wine.
Virtually all of our Hunter Valley wines, apart from the ones not destined for wood, have been moved into barrel. Our winery currently resembles a virtual forest of barrels stacked 7 or 8 high. There are so many barrels, that I had to put all my newly acquired forklift skills to the test to carefully extract certain barrels for tasting. The smells now permeating the winery are quite different from the heady aromas of fruit esters during fermentation; it is a more elegant and complex aroma of the new oak intermingled with that of the emerging wines.
Our Chardonnay has been in barrel for the longest period of time - for the last 7 weeks, in fact. The wines are of great quality this year, exhibiting excellent colour and flavour and exemplary pH and acidity levels. After fermentation it showed lovely, abundant primary fruit characters of peach, melon and fig, which are now being complemented by subtle hints of vanilla and spice from oak contact. At this stage the secondary flavours are only beginning to emerge. The wine will have to spend another 7 months maturing. Within the next few weeks, we will start topping the barrels, to replace the wine lost to evaporation, and will also commence lees stirring.
The last grapes for the season have arrived and the end of another challenging but successful harvest is within reach. Within a few weeks, we will hold our post harvest tasting and will make a general evaluation of our efforts; and then it is almost time for me to travel around the world to show everyone the efforts of vintages past.
Since the Mount Pleasant winery has significantly slowed down now, I decided to make a quick getaway and visit our winery in the Riverina. Well, not so quick, considering the two wineries are an 8 hour car ride away from each other. IN Australia, everything seems to be separated by long distances, with virtually nothing in between. In a country as vast as this, an 8 hour drive is not a stroll in the park, but certainly a distance routinely covered by many countryside inhabitants.
Whilst we are getting ready to celebrate the completion of another successful harvest, our winery at Hanwood is in the midst of it all. Trucks are lining up at the winery at all hours of the day to deliver their fruit. Harvest commenced not much later than the Hunter Valley, but our Hanwood winery receives grapes from many different viticultural regions, such as the Hilltops, the Yarra Valley and even the Clare and Eden Valleys. This means that harvest lasts for an incredible 3-4 months until the Botrytis is harvested in May. In my years working at the Hanwood winery, I was always completely exhausted at the conclusion of harvest, but equally elated from having had the privilege to work with so many different wine styles.
I have had a very interesting week. There certainly is a flurry of activity at the winery, not only because of harvest, but also because we are consolidating two of our wineries. Since 1921, we have had two wineries in the Riverina, located about 15 miles apart from each other. When my great great grandfather, JJ McWilliam, first arrived in the area in 1913, he chose the land around what is now the town of Hanwood not only for its soil, but also because a railway line was planned to pass by the area. JJ was a visionary and strategic thinker and envisaged that his wines would need to find a bigger market in the urban areas, and the railway was the only fast transport option at the time. When the route of the railway was changed to pass by the town of Yenda, JJ simply established another winery there. With transport requirements no longer a limiting factor, we have now reached a stage where one winery is easier to handle.
The move has given us the opportunity to evaluate our winemaking equipment and look into the newest technologies. At Hanwood we are actively trying to find a balance between the old traditions and the new. New technologies are constantly evolving and ensuring consistently high quality in our wines. However, we are always trying to keep our heritage and tradition in mind and aim to preserve those age old techniques that we consider to be essential. If you think about it, it is a fact that weaves its way through all aspects of life: everything old is new again; and without innovation our lives would be dull indeed.
This year, the harvest in the Riverina was very concentrated due to the hot and dry weather conditions. All the grape varieties, except for Cabernet Sauvignon, ripened simultaneously, sending everyone scrambling to manage the workload and to find space in the winery.
Our viticulturalists have had a relatively stress-free lead up to the harvest, because there were no disease pressures. The extreme heat over the Christmas period was the only concern. The vines appear to have weathered this quite well, however, since we ensured the constant availability of water
to minimise any stress.
One of the challenges the winemakers had to deal with this year is that the heat has somewhat reduced the anthocyanin levels in the skins. Anthocyanins are responsible for the colour in red grape varieties. In most of our red varieties we are aiming for a wine style with high levels of colour intensity and depth. In order to counteract this year’s lower levels, the wines were fermented at cooler temperatures to slow down the fermentation, which allowed for longer skin contact.
The variety I am very excited about this year is Riesling. We source Riesling from two of Australia’s most prestigious Riesling growing regions, the Calre and Eden Valleys in
South Australia. The northern parts of South Australia enjoyed a long and cool ripening season, giving the vines ample time to develop complex flavours in the grapes. The juice is only just now starting to ferment, but from what I can see so far, our 2006 Hanwood Estate Riesling should be a stunner. I personally love Riesling because it is such an elegant and complex variety that ages gracefully. It is not a labour intensive wine to make, but as a winemaker you have to apply techniques which ensure that the fruit flavours are preserved as much as possible.
top
These past few weeks have been quiet indeed. We have finished the lees stirring
on the Chardonnays and have now tucked them away to quietly rest for a while…
This week I finally had a chance to catch up with our Coonawarra winemaker Peter
Weinberg to get an update on all things Coonawarra.
As I mentioned earlier during the harvest, Pete and his team had to get
organised very quickly this year, because harvest started much earlier than
usual. Normally the cool climate region of Coonawarra doesn’t get into the full
swing of harvest until the beginning of April. This year everything was already
in motion in the 3rd week of March. Pete and his team were this year treated to
unseasonably warm and dry weather. These unusual conditions even allowed for a
few dips in the normally frigid ocean. The arctic currents and winds that whip
past these parts of South Australia, and which play a large role in providing
the cool climate conditions, could not keep up with the relentless sun this
year.
The yields on the old vines have been very low this year. Only 0.5 tonne per
acre in some cases, which has resulted in some amazingly concentrated, good
quality but early ripening fruit. The younger vines, which are by no means young
at between 8 to 15 years of age, but appear like babies compared to our over 125
year old vines, have higher crop levels and thus ripened a little later. Peter
thinks the wines from this harvest will be good, but they will display less
traditional flavours as a result of the atypical conditions.
I am looking forward to trying the wines when all the winemakers get together in
a couple of months.
top
For a literal change of scenery, I travelled to the US last week for a whirlwind
media tour of the East coast. I truly love the variety of my job. Between the
hands-on, tough and dirty work of the winemaker and the sometimes-glamorous job
of representing my family overseas, I get a wonderful balance in my professional
life. I enjoy the times as a winemaker when I can create and nurture the wines
and see them slowly evolve; and I relish this time of year, when I can share the
fruits of my labour. It is very rewarding to see the wines in context with
wonderful food and in a variety of social occasions where merriment and
friendship prevail. In my mind, that is what wine is mostly about – the
enjoyment with food in a circle of friends.
top
This year is the 50th anniversary of Maurice O’Shea’s death. As I told you in an
earlier report, Maurice was a legendary winemaker who revolutionised the
Australian wine industry with his exceptional, dry table wines when not many
wineries where making them. My family supported and encouraged his work
throughout his life. So convinced
were they of Maurice’s talent and future importance for the wine industry, that
they were never concerned that the Mount Pleasant winery wasn’t profitable for
at least 30 years until the industry and the consumers’ tastes changed. And they
were right to do so. Today, Maurice is considered one of the most revered
Australian winemakers in history. His wines have driven many a person to tears
and wild exclamations of delight.
To honour the 50th anniversary of his passing, McWilliam’s commissioned a book
on his life, and a dinner for its release was held a few days ago. As this was a
special occasion, my dad finally pulled out his key to the cellar! Out of its
mysterious depths several historic bottles of wine emerged. They were true
treasures that had not seen the light of day for decades. The oldest wine was a
Hermitage from 1943 and there also was, of course, a 1956 Hermitage, Maurice’s
last vintage.
The
1943 was only a half bottle, yet it was the star wine of the tasting, outshining
the much younger ’56. The ‘56s saving grace was that the harvest had been a
difficult one. The ’43 had a long and silky palate, earthy and gamy aromas and
complex flavours with remnants of lovely fruit sweetness – a rarity in such old
wines. Certainly proof that Australian wines, and most notably our family’s
wines, age gracefully and will hopefully be enjoyed by generations to come. I
can only hope that my grandchildren will be enjoying a part of my life’s work in
60 years time.
top
Over the past three days we have been busily bottling the 2006 Lovedale Semillon
and some of the premium Shiraz. Bottling these wines directly at the winery,
instead of our head office, ensures minimal handling and
maximum
control, guaranteeing the all important premium quality of these wines. Once
bottled, they will be laid to rest for a few years in order to be allowed to
develop and change into their final ‘personalities’ in optimum conditions. It is
an expensive practice not conducted much anymore today for cost-saving reasons,
but one that is very much a McWilliam tradition.
top
Another trip to Griffith was on my agenda, but this time I opted for the faster
option: the small turbo prop engine plane that flies between Sydney and
Griffith. Leaving the undulating hills, Eucalyptus forests and mild coastal
climate of the Hunter Valley and Sydney behind, the plane soon made its way into
the vast interior of Australia where, even through the plane window at several
thousand feet, there is often nothing else to see but expanses of bushland
sprinkled with the occasional billabong (Australian for waterhole). Then, all of
a sudden civilisation pops back into the picture with a patchwork of fields
planted to vines and citrus fruit, criss-crossed by farms and the ubiquitous
dirt road.
Griffith appeared to be in the grip of an unusually cold winter, with freezing
temperatures at night and a gloomy, wet cold during the day that tends to chill
you all the way to your bones. Driving past the vineyards, even the vines
appeared to be cold, with their barren canes haplessly entangled atop the
gnarled trunks as if to keep warm.
My reason for travelling to Griffith at this inhospitable time is the
McWilliam’s annual classification tasting. Essentially, it is designed to pool
the knowledge and experience of all the winemakers to assess the quality of the
harvest and to make blending decisions. It is also an exchange of knowledge and
experience, an opportunity to discuss winemaking methods and assess new
solutions to age-old problems. However, this is not accomplished over the
proverbial ‘cup of tea’ during a casual, relaxed gathering, but during a
strenuous tasting of over 100 wines a day.
By the end of the two-day tasting we sport beautiful purple smiles, our palates
are raw from the young, abundant tannins of the reds, and our teeth enamels are
wearing thin, thanks to the racy acidity of the Rieslings, Sauvignon Blancs and
Semillons.
Well, I think it is now safe for me to say that 2006 marks another successful
harvest for McWilliam’s Wines. Despite the fact that many of the wines are not
yet finished, with further maturation and blending still to be done, we can
definitely ascertain that we have created a diverse range of high quality ‘base
wines’. As far as I can currently predict, the Hanwood Estate Chardonnay and
Riesling from 2006 will be lively whites with fresh fruit flavours. The Hanwood
Estate Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon will be approachable with dark fruit
characters. The star of the range will, in my opinion, be the Hanwood Shiraz
with spicy red fruit character and hints of pepper.
Which leads me to my revelation from this year’s tasting; that Shiraz is truly a
diverse and resilient grape variety suited to most viticultural regions in
Australia.
There is peppery, cool climate Shiraz from the Yarra, rich, plummy Shiraz from
the warmer regions of Barossa Valley and Hilltops and earthy, velvety Shiraz
from the Hunter Valley.
At these tastings and at the many wine shows around the country and the world, I
am always reminded of the special nature of wine. The depth and variety of wine
is astounding - a fact that has been noted across the boundaries of culture and
time. I believe Ernest Hemingway in his time described wine as one of the most
civilised things in the world and that it offers a greater range for enjoyment
and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.
top
The small turbo prop has safely returned me to Mount Pleasant, where a flurry of
activity is happening on the Old Hill vineyard.
The
vines are being pruned in preparation for next year’s harvest. A great deal of
research has gone into the various methods of pruning and shaping the grapevine
to produce optimum results. Essentially, the aim is to create a balance between
new canes and leaves and ultimately grape bunches and to allow for an ideal
amount of sunlight to reach the bunches – not too much to burn the bunches and
not too little to hinder development. It is also a method used to help dictate
the amount of bunches produced by the grapevine, an important factor of quality
control. The higher the yield, the harder the grapevine has to work to ripen the
fruit. Once a certain level of yield is reached, the quality of the fruit
discernibly suffers.
Pete,
the vineyard manager and his team of helpers are busily at work. It is a
laborious and therefore expensive task that cannot be replaced by machine. The
finishing touches always have to be completed by human hands. Up here on the old
hill vineyard, only human hands will suffice. The vines are frail and precious
and the slopes are not conducive to tractor use.
It has been quiet and peaceful in the winery over these past few months. Work has slowed down to a sleepier pace as the grapevines are still in hibernation and the wines are carefully tucked away inside the winery.
.jpg)
Pete, the vineyard manager, and his team have finished pruning and mulching the vines. Everything has been done to ensure the vines are equipped with all they need to produce healthy shoots and bunches come spring. And just to be entirely on the safe side, Winnie the vineyard dog is making sure that anything dangerous to the winery stays that way.
Many of the red wines are still undergoing malolactic fermentation, which can at times last several months. The bacteria responsible for this secondary fermentation are, just like yeast, sensitive to cold temperatures. We have therefore installed several patio heaters inside the barrel shed, which is now a cozy 30 degrees or so - warmer than our offices! As a result, the euphemism for being sent to the barrel shed for chores is now ‘to go on a summer holiday’…
In the significantly colder lab, we have been busy performing all manners of tests on the maturing wines. Apart from checking on the progress of malo-lactic fermentation, we are testing the reds for sulphur levels, to ensure that these are at ideal levels to prevent oxidation and microbiological spoilage. A small lapse in diligence could spell the ruin of large quantities of wine.
Whilst our wines are being cosseted and fussed over, we also had a pleasant interruption to add some colour to winter’s grey hues and some excitement to our lives. The industry recently held its major consumer and trade fair, Wine Australia. At this biennial event hundreds of wineries from all the winegrowing regions of Australia assemble to showcase their wines to eager groups of consumers, media and trade representatives. In two large halls, there are throngs of elaborately designed stands offering a kaleidoscope of choice from tantalising bubbly from Tassie (Tasmania), elegant Pinots from Victoria, to bold Cabernets from Coonawarra and luscious dessert wines from the Riverina. I saw many a visitor wandering around with wide-eyed and bedazzled looks on their face, clutching a still pristinely clean glass, clearly overwhelmed by the choice and thus unable to choose.
.jpg)
Despite this - easily overcome - dilemma, it is a wonderful opportunity to gain an overview of what our country has to offer without having to endure long journeys across our vast continent. For us it is an excellent opportunity to interact with consumers and to make new business contacts. It is also a rare chance to catch up with old winemaking friends that are scattered across the country. In short, it is a rather busy time with long days and even longer evenings of great wine & food and passionate reminiscence.
Over the 3 days of the fair, McWilliam’s also runs short educational seminars to share the passion of fine wine and food appreciation and to introduce people to our wines in an exciting and educational way. Peter Howard, our celebrity chef and some of our winemakers, including myself, ran these seminars, which were a great success.
Wine Australia also marks the occasion of the McWilliam’s Wines Maurice O’Shea
.jpg)
Dinner. At this glamorous dinner, held in memory of the legendary Mt Pleasant winemaker Maurice O’Shea, McWilliam’s Wines recognises and awards an individual or group that has made a significant contribution to the wine industry. In the past 16 years, the award has grown into one of the most prestigious events on the wine industry’s social calendar. It is also one of the few occasions where my immediate family comes together looking their best, unlike the annual Christmas gathering that sees us all donning silly Christmas hats.
As I sleepily drove to work this morning, bright and early as usual, I thought that something was different. At first I didn’t realize what it was, but then it quickly
dawned on me: “Budburst has happened!” Only a few vines days ago, the vines looked as barren and dead as in the thick of winter, but today, small, tender, silvery green leaves have burst forth from the canes in proliferation, instantly turning the dreary vineyards into a sea of light green. Despite having witnessed this on countless occasions, it still amazes me at what speed nature finally announces that spring has come. This year it has caught me a little off guard, because winter has been so mild in the Hunter Valley that I didn’t even notice spring had crept up on us.
Now that the vines have started growing again, I will get outside more, which after months in the cellar is a welcome change.
In the first instances after budburst, the vine draws its fuel for early growth of the starches and minerals that were stored last season in the woody portions of the vine. Once the vine starts photosynthesis again, we will have to closely monitor them to ensure a good flowering and fruit set and good bud development for the following season. I think I mentioned earlier this year, that the production of flowers & berries is a process that occurs over 15-18 months. As a result, spring is a crucial developmental period not only for next harvest, but also for the following one. Not enough sun on the canes will, for instance, hinder the development of next year’s buds. Nature is, as always, perfect but forever hanging in delicate balance.
At the moment we do have one concern. At the risk of sounding like a broken record,
because I have mentioned the weather and the lack of rain so many times this year, but Australia is still in the tight grip of what is now the worst drought on record. I can count the number of times we have had rain in the last 6 months on the fingers of one hand. The majority of our state has been drought declared and farmers far and wide are suffering. My family has vineyards in one of the worst hit areas, the Hilltops region in South Eastern New South Wales. Although vines cope relatively well with being dry-grown and stressed from lack of water to some degree, severe lack of moisture will result in little or no crop at all, not just this season but maybe next season as well. So we will have to be extra diligent and look for any signs of excessive stress.
top
In the last week I had to make a quick sojourn to Germany, because I had been invited to judge at the world wine competition ‘Mundus Vini’. I was really excited to receive the invitation. For six days, 220 judges from 40 countries immersed themselves in wines from 30 different countries, including lesser-known wine growing countries such as
Greece and Uruguay. Overall there were 4500 wines to judge under the OIV system. On my panel of judges were a Japanese wine journalist, a South African, a Uruguayan and a Greek winemaker, as well as a Swedish wine educator. It was great to measure my palate against those of so many different cultural and wine backgrounds. I learned a lot, and our wines did well in the competition, receiving several medals.
When I got back to our vineyards, the changes were hard to miss. It has only been just over two weeks since budburst and already the shoots are up to three inches long, with the occasional wayward shoot poking out above all others. The growth-rate is staggering and you can also see what looks like minute, perfectly formed green bunches of grapes. They are actually the flower buds, which should open within the next week or two. Within a month, the bunches for next harvest will be set and the waiting game begins…
Archived Harvest Reports
2005 Harvest Report
Australian Table Wine, ©2004-2005
McWilliam’s Hanwood Estate, Healdsburg, CA. All rights reserved.
use of this site is subject to the
use agreement,
privacy policy and
trademarks
