The Wine Blokes

 

 After arriving 2 night ago, I completed my first night shift of vintage.  Quite a bit has changed at Smithbrook since I was winemaker / manager over 2 years ago, most notable in the winery. 

Just prior to my departure, Ashley (current Smithbrook Manager) and myself physically erected a large shed over what was then the winery.  At the time it consisted a 10 tonne Miller airbag membrane press, a Vaslin Bucher crusher, around 100,000 litres in insulated and refrigerated storage tanks, in an outdoor winery. Only a limited amount of fermentation actually took place on site, with much of it traveling over the border to South Australia (over 3000km) to be fermented at partner wineries.  Now there are plenty more tanks, red fermenters, a better lab, a rotary vacuum drum filter, and loads over other new toys. Last night was rather simple as we only crushed and pressed 10 tonne of Chardonnay Sparkling base for a client. It came in with good numbers, a Baume (Sugar) of 11.1, pH of 3.2, and a tirtatablle acidity of around 9 g/L. 

Even so, none of us are used to night shift just yet and as I write this I’m rather hazy and ready for some well earned sleep.  I really have to sleep, but these photos give an idea of the beauty of the area and the Smithbrook.

There is around 6 weeks to go so plenty of time to do some videos and more photos.