The Wine Blokes

Jon F. 

Yesterdays weather forecast was for light showers clearing during the day. Well today it rained for most of it, and it’s now quite cold and dreary, much like a winters day rather than later summer.

The rain in itself it not a huge issue at the moment as long as it doesn’t persist.  However the forecast is for warmer weather and some drizzle over the next few days which will also bring humidity, creating ample conditions for the dreaded fungus botrytis. With most of the Sauvignon Blanc scheduled to be harvested over the next 7 days, and also the remaining Chardonnay, it’s certainly a problem we don’t want.  Botrytis can spread like wild fire if it gets a good hold, and there is not alot you can do about it at such a late stage. Any fungacide sprays that would slow it down would be well within the withholding period. The only possible option is physical removal of the infected fruit prior to harvesting.  All the grapes are still in very good condition so it is unlikely that botrytis will be a issue.  A very small amount of botrytis is acceptable in most white grapes in any case.

The other effect rain has is that the vines will to some extent take up some of the water in the ground, resulting in the grapes being diluted. The grapes generally come back into balance a couple of days after the rain.  

 After our vineyard walk today, we’ve decided to begin picking Sauvignon Blanc tommorow night if it drys out enough, and the grapes have not taken up any water.  The small amount of rain we’ve had so far suggests it will be fine.  The problem however is that we have over 300 tonne of Sauvignon Blanc to harvest and crush, and we can only handle around  30 tonne per day, so if we keep delaying the start, it will mean the later blocks will almost certainly be either over ripe or starting to have an increase in disease pressure. 

We’ve found that Sauvignon Blanc here has a very small picking window to capture the optimum flavour profile we are looking for, where the flavour profile begins to change from the herbaceous, grassy characters into the more tropical spectrum. We’ve found in the past from the Smithbrook Vineyard that the best wines are those where the grapes are harvested right at the apex of this flavour profile change, therefore capturing a complex array of flavours. 

We are all rather excitied though at the flavours and intensity we are seeing in the grapes at the moment. All going well, at this stage, it is a very good year for Sauvignon Blanc. Overall it is sitting between 10 & 11 Baume at the moment, and we’re looking to pick at around 12 to 13 Baume depending on flavour and acid profile.

We have some Pinot Noir in the winery at the moment that we are making under contract for another conpany.  It’s the first red in the winery this year, so always a bit exciting. At least we can test drive the red fermenters and our pump-over regime.  For the uninitiated, white grape juice is converted into wine via yeast fermentation without skins. Red grapes on the other hand are fermented together with the skins, to extract colour, flavour, and structure. However a thick cap of skins is formed during ferment and if left untouched, the ferment will become too hot and produce unwanted flavours and characters. Therefore the cap is broken up and mixed with the skins either by plunging up to 4 times per day, or buy draining the liquid off, and pumping it back over the top of the ferment to wet the skins.

The method depends on the style desired and equipment each winery uses. The photo below is of the very first draining of the Pinot Noir once fermentation had begun. As fermentation progresses, the colour will also intensify.