The Wine Blokes

Probably the single most important decision of vintage, which can make or break the quality and style of a wine, excluding seasonal variables, is the decision of when to pick. 

We have walked and tasted our way through every remaining white block over the last few days and it is quite amazing the change in flavours that can occur in just 24 hours. Yesterday we looked at a couple of blocks of Sauvignon Blanc that we had sampled the day before, and they trully looked as if they had gone backwards in both flavour development and sugar, and we we’re thinking that they still had a few days, if not a week more to ripen.  Yesterday we walked through again, and the flavour profile had changed dramatically, to a point where we thought we missed the picking window.  We have found in the past that Sauvingon Blanc here at Smithbrook provides a really small picking window for the style we’re looking for. The flavours tend to start green and herbaceous, with green bean and asparagus type flavours, and then move into a more tropical character such as pineapple. 

We want to try and capture the flavour as it sits at the apex of this change, so we get the complex combintation of all these characters, and preferably when the acid and flavour balance is at its best.

Ash and I agreed that most of the remaining Sauvignon Blanc is now in an optimum picking window, so we will endevour to pick the rest before Easter.

Hand picking Sauvignon Blanc

The harvest crew at the end of another long shift.

End of the harvest shift.