Vintage 2008 -VIOGNIER - Bring it on!
The bunch sampling carried out on Monday 24th March together with impending weather lurking later in the week, all helped to convince me that harvest was to take place later that week. The aim was to take the Viognier off on Thursday and the Merlot on Friday - much organising to be done.
First job was to find a net machine to remove the nets, then could pickers be arranged as well as transport for bins as well as will the winery be able to process the fruit? It all fell into place perfectly! The weather on the day was warm to hot, another great harvest day in Margaret River.
The Viognier harvest was a surprise with the yield being above expectation and some fantastic fruit harvested. This harvest will see the largest quantity of Viognier picked from the vineyard thus far, indicating that we are close to nailing the growing this precocious variety.
The fruit showed the typical variation from green to golden coloured berries. The deep coloured fruit was due to those bunches which were specifically exposed to the sun to achieve the required amount of berry shrivel. Indications at the last sampling were that the Beaumes would be high again with the flavours of apricot, peach and honey suckle peaking.
Winemaking style dictates that the bunches are pressed whole i.e. no crushing so as to reduce the phenolic astringency. You guessed it, the winery didn’t have the ability to “easily” get the fruit into the airbag press. So, straddled between the press and the forklift, all 5+ tonnes had to be shovelled into the press by hand.
That day started at 5am and finished at 11:30pm fro Vineman but the winery didn’t complete the final press load until 3am the following day!
At this point I am excited at the quality and flavour of the juice. Bring on the Merlot harvest.
Vineman
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