by Graeme Leith
Tuesday, 19 February
Plans are underway to go to the McKernans’ vineyard at Coldstream in the Yarra Valley and to process some pinot noir there. We have had much success with their pinot over the years and are keen to make it again. Due to the discovery of the vine-root sucking louse, phylloxera, in the Valley, we had not been able to take their fruit for some years even though there was no phylloxera on the McKernan property. However, we are able to crush the fruit down there and bring the resulting must back home to our winery for fermentation. I had been in discussion with the Department of Primary Industries and it was apparent that we could bring the must back in sealed containers, provided certain conditions were met at the Coldstream vineyard and at our end. After inspections by the DPI and an incredible amount of paperwork (that was subsequently proved to be largely unnecessary), we were given the go-ahead, and so the operation was planned.
It appears that vintage is going to be early due to this spell of warm weather, so bottling and labelling have to be rescheduled to an earlier date to free the winery for fermentation. Lids needed to be made for the bins to contain the plastic bags in which the must would be transported, and Luke, a handy man with timber, was able to do this. Our crusher was too large to be transported so I hired a small one from Melbourne and the night before picking Luke and I go to Coldstream to have all in readiness for an early morning pick—and have a good evening meal with Robert and Vanessa McKernan.
Monday, 25 February
Upon arrival at the McKernans’ the first thing I see is the hired crusher. Its size is of grave concern, looking like it was built for hobbyists, not someone about to crush at least 4 tons in a day. The rep had claimed it would do the job, but the look of it results in an interrupted sleep for me.
Tuesday, 26 February
This morning Luke and I go straight down to the vineyard, pick a bucket of grapes as the sun rises over the vineyard and push it through the mini crusher. With sighs of relief if goes through quickly, and we know we’ll be able to keep up with the fourteen pickers.
The Cambodian team had been organised by Robert and away they go on a day which unfortunately turns out to be 35 degrees, and of course much hotter in the sun. Even the Cambodians are apparently feeling the heat for they aren’t working as fast as I had hoped and there are some communication problems. However, the day had started off well in the meticulously groomed McKernan vineyard as hot air balloons drifted overhead at the 6 a.m. start.
The system is worked out; beautiful fruit is coming off thick and fast. My mobile lab (some instruments set up on the back of the ute) informs me that the figures are looking good, and the juice tastes and looks superb. Some hours later in the day I receive a telephone call from Bendigo Wine Estates, from whom we are purchasing some shiraz grapes as we normally do. However, we aren’t expecting them for at least a week. I had been so busy looking at the weather for Coldstream that I had neglected to check Bendigo. A storm is brewing and the call has to be made. Do we get the shiraz off now, or risk our luck and hope the storm misses the vineyard? I tell Brian I’ll call him back in five and make the decision while getting the next bin of buckets into the crusher. In the five-minute break between loads I call Brian back and tell him to go for it. He says he will and that the truck with grapes onboard would be at our Musk winery in the next four hours. Dad is hastily called—can he be there to forklift it off the truck? Yeah, good old Dad can do it; he probably didn’t have a date tonight anyway! (Actually he did, and he was quite pissed off. And she was teed off. GL)
Luke and I get to Musk at eight o’clock that night, cover and gas the shiraz with CO2 ready for the morning, crack a beer and wait for the truck from Coldstream to arrive; it had left some time after us because it had to be pressure-washed in accordance with DPI instructions.
The grapes from Coldstream duly arrive about an hour later and the 500-kilo bins unloaded. Most were inoculated, but some were not as the heat had encouraged indigenous fermentation to begin already.
Wednesday, 27 February
Up early to process the Axedale shiraz. Then a quick coffee and begin plunging for the season. Spend remainder of the day getting all equipment in order.
Thursday, 28 February
Crazily trying to finish bottling prep for the 2012s. Everything is out of barrel and in tank now, ready for final sulphur checks. Looks like we will have a lot of fruit coming in before bottling—space is at a premium.
Friday, 1 March – Monday, 4 March
Off to Serpentine to check fruit as Paul thinks it’s getting close. Must have picked something up in the tyre at the vineyard—bad flat tyre coming back on the Serpentine–Bridgewater Road. Kelpie pup Nillo watching as we change it in the blazing sun, perhaps wondering why we humans bother with such complex lives. Serpentine shiraz looking good again!
Tuesday, 5 March
Things are starting to happen pretty fast. A couple of tons of Serpentine shiraz arrive. We had trialled a bit last year and found it excellent. It has an amazing colour, almost inky black, and a structure to die for. This wine ended up showing such fruit intensity and power that we kept it separate throughout the winemaking process and intend to take it out of barrel (after eighteen months) to be bottled as our Reserve Shiraz.
Simon and Emily Smith rock up with a half-ton bin of shiraz for their own label—not as much as they were expecting. Very glad they turned up when they did; we were needing to use the crusher anyway. It’s painful to have to clean the crusher when only half a ton has gone through it.
Wednesday, 6 March
The Coldstream pinot has finished ferment. Press directly to barrel. Lots of plunging now as the winery begins to fill.
Thursday, 7 March
Axedale shiraz now finished ferment. Had to press direct to barrel as not a single tank free. Final sulphur adjustments for 2012s to be bottled. Bottling line arrives; manage to get it in place—just (again).
Friday, 8 March
Luke and I at the winery well before dawn so we can get the plunging out of the way before the bottling crew arrives. I do the ferment checks as Luke plunges. One final rack of a 2012 wine and we are ready for bottling. Crew arrives and the line is clinking away by 8 a.m.
Saturday, 9 March
Another day, bottling as as yesterday. The clickety-clack, clickety-clack of the bottling line might be soporific in more benign circumstances. The bottling crew people are working seamlessly and apparently tirelessly. Mordi from Vaughan Springs wants to pick tomorrow. Needs to pick up the bins tonight.
Sunday, 10 March
Vaughan Springs shiraz being picked today. Mordi arrives with the fruit at about 4 p.m. It is much less than he expected (estimated 3.5 tons, got 1.8 tons). This means I am going to have to buy some more shiraz from somewhere to fill demand. The season has been unusual and very dry, so those of us using historical data rather than picking and weighing sample bunches right here and now end up being, well, less than accurate.
Dad goes off to Kingower to look at the Zonnebeke crop of shiraz which, in most years, becomes our single vineyard Bendigo shiraz. The kangaroos were beginning to attack the crop and there were some losses due to their depredations, so a little less fruit than estimated there, also. The grower Phil Adam is frustrated; having spent about six weeks keeping the cockatoos off his pistachios, he’s now got kangaroos in the shiraz. While we’d had trouble at our Kingower vineyard from kangaroo damage for many years during the drought, this is the first time for Phil, and we assume it was due to the kangaroo population being so very high and the fact that, incredibly in Bendigo, the 2013 growing season was drier than the driest of years through the drought, with no rain being sighted from November to March.
Tuesday, 12 March
The Gilmore grapes arrive from their Kingower vineyard; we are making the wine for their own brand, Both Banks, a nod to the fact that their vineyard is planted on both sides of the rarely flowing Kingower Creek, and also their dealing with the money variety when purchasing the
property. On his way there Dad passed their truck in almost exactly the same place as he did last year.
Wednesday, 13 March
The Serpentine cabernet is arriving today. Financially things were tight so we had dropped our order from 7 tons to 6 tons in January, for every ton of fruit not only needs to be purchased (and this is not cheap for premium fruit), but also needs barrels, and they are expensive! However, the Serpentine vineyard’s scales had broken and they had to estimate the 6 tons. When it arrives we weigh it at 8.257 tons! But Paul generously refuses to charge us for any more than we had ordered. He will, of course, be getting a few cases of the resultant wine!
Now space is really tight in the winery, requiring me to do some more logistics work with a forklift. Half the winery is taken up with packaged wine and barrels, the rest with open fermenters. It’s the same old adage—a year after you build a shed, it’s too small. We think longingly of our lovely empty sheds we’d left behind at Kingower.
As all of this is happening, we are eagerly attending to and watching our home vineyard at Musk. Ripening has been happening at a pace and the beautiful pinot noir and chardonnay bunches are now in superb condition with not a hint of rot or mildew.
Thursday, 14 March
Luke and I arrive at Musk this morning and soon realise that the bird alarm isn’t working. It is quickly established that someone had vandalised the unit—the wires to the speakers have been cut and the scary clown stolen. His base holding the fan unit is still there (although bent almost horizontal) but his suit, which was inflated by the fan, has gone. It appears that one of our anonymous callers had visited in the night. We are able to join the wires and get the speakers working but we hold off on ordering a new clown until we call the police. Senior Constable Ian Wallace comes and investigates and takes the old clown base away, considering the unlikely possibility of it having identifiable fingerprints. Ian is the same policeman who recovered our stolen trailer in 2004 with some inspirational detective work, so it is no real surprise to us some days later when he contacts us, saying, ‘We’ve got a crook.’ We’d ordered a new scary clown by then and had it up and running.
Friday, 15 March
Phil Adam rings from Zonnebeke to say the crop loss is becoming significant due to kangaroo depredations. After taking some final measurements and tasting the fruit at the vineyard, we are surprised that the baumé and flavours have jumped to an acceptable level. This was a not an uncommon occurrence in 2012; one vineyard jumped 1.5 degrees baumé in a week (0.5 is about the norm). We push the go button for Phil and Anne to pick next Saturday. As their crop was diminished we ring Brian at Bendigo Wine Estate to see if we can purchase another couple of tons of shiraz, and luckily they have some for us.
Saturday, 16 March
Axedale shiraz arrives. I want to experiment with post-fermentation maceration so that goes into Olivia, and when fermentation is complete she is covered to prevent oxidation and I wait for the cap to fall. (After a month the cap still hadn’t fallen, but the wine was tasting superb with plenty of depth and a very attractive tannin structure.) I talk to Dad and straightaway ring Ron Laughton of Jasper Hill, who is familiar with this winemaking technique, and discover that Ron goes off tannin structure (among other things) regardless of what the cap is doing. Luke is set to work getting the press ready and it is pressed this afternoon.
Sunday, 17 March
Today the Zonnebeke fruit arrived, 3.6 tons, and in the following days Fontanella pinot grigio, Goodwill wines with more pinot noir, and Max and Susan Haverfield with yet more pinot! We are producing a lot of pinot this year and it is absolutely fascinating to see what these sites produce—all remarkably different in their own way. Pinot is arguably one of the hardest varieties to make; there are so many options for the winemaker—whole bunch, whole berry, cold soaks, post-ferment soak, oak treatment, the list goes on—and there are percentages to determine for all of those options.
Monday, 18 March
Pressing day. Serpentine shiraz from the 5th March picking has fermented out to dryness and is looking great, so that is put through the press and into settling tanks with the free run wine. Likewise the Vaughan Springs shiraz, which has also decided to finish its ferment today.
Tuesday, 19 March
More pressing, plus pinot coming in from Kilmore for two contract clients, more for Goodwill wine, and some for Fontanella also. On the phone with another contract client in Mornington. Doesn’t look like they will get the fruit off in time for us to process tonight. Manage to talk him out of driving down tonight—and arriving at 1 a.m.!
Wednesday, 20 March
Mornington fruit arrives at dawn—he must have left at 1 a.m. Inspection shows white bunches interspersed with the pinot. Looks like he must have been given some pinot gris rootlings mixed in with his pinot noir, apparently colourblind pickers! Decision is made to process it together as the quantities of white bunches are so small.
Thursday, 21 March
It takes us until lunchtime to plunge and do ferment checks. Once we finish, we almost have to start again. Raoul’s help is called for. He’s a great bloke who works in hospitality. He’d done some work for us previously but had never heard of the scary man, and upon hearing all the talk of the scary man he wanted to know where he lived! Or did we keep him chained up somewhere? Of course we teased him and kept the joke going for as long as possible.
Friday, 22 March
The season is advancing, the pied currawongs are becoming more aggressive, and misty rain and heavy dews mean spraying against mildew is becoming a more constant chore. Due to our trellising set-up, it is difficult to apply spray inside the canopy so we’d had a framework made up attached to the spray unit that carried arms with a nozzle attached to spray inside the canopy. However, the arms and/or nozzles were constantly getting caught up and breaking the welds, and that meant a return to base for rewelding, as profanities were muttered or, as the day progressed, yelled. After much trial and error, Dad eventually replaced the arms with flexible plastic ones which finally solved the problem, but it is still a nerve-wracking three or four hours on the tractor every ten days or so.
We have previously had Natalie, the ‘three-quarter sized Dolly Parton’, and her crew out to ‘shoot thin’, taking out all unnecessary vine shoots and thereby limiting the crop and allowing better penetration of sprays, sunlight and air.
We are determined this year to do everything possible to produce a perfect crop so are baffled when we find some berry splitting. Then we realise that it is only on one side of the canopy and that the culprit must have been hail. After speaking to a neighbour, it was confirmed that there had, in fact, been a short sharp hailstorm on the night before we observed the splitting—one of the tribulations of share-farming with God! Damaged berries later shrivel, dry and largely fall off, so it appears that we have no loss of quality.
We have Natalie and crew out again to leaf pluck, a tedious and expensive job, but one that we feel we have to do in the interests of quality.
Saturday, 23 March
The time is fast approaching for our first pick of chardonnay for our sparkling base wine (which seems to be about three weeks ahead of last year), so I’m monitoring it daily.
Sunday, 24 March
Today more plunging, and pressing out some of the contract pinot—which is looking brilliant.
Monday, 25 March
More plunging, more pressing. Testing of the chardonnay grapes reveals that we can expect a perfect flavour and a perfect set of numbers in a couple of days, so Natalie and crew are called for once again. More contract grapes arriving. Last year’s contract wine, now bottled and packaged, being collected. Five rows of chardonnay picked for sparkling base. Now the waiting game for the chardonnay and pinot to fully ripen for our still wines.
Tuesday, 26 March
Get everything ready for harvesting the sparkling-base grapes tomorrow. Buckets cleaned, tractor fuelled, secateurs found, etc. etc.
Wednesday, 27 Marc
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Crew arrives early and we get started. Fruit coming off beautifully. Almost half a ton per row. I am in the winery, while Dad, Luke, Raoul and Darren handle pick-ups and help to hand-load the whole bunches into the press. A big day, but looks like we will have some impressive base wine.
Thursday, 28 March
We are having constant trouble with the bird scarer—it keeps going off whenever a car comes to the cellar door or a truck comes to the winery. We relocate one of the radar posts to a new position. Now it goes off whenever the motorbike goes past it! This is pretty often, as we’re doing constant patrols to keep the currawongs at bay. Contact with the bird-scarer people informs us that there is new software available to allow the unit to discriminate better between birds and vehicles. Money is so tight that we don’t even ask what the cost would be.
Dad is doing some dawn and dusk patrols in his little Fiat Cinquecento cabriolet because he can stick a rifle out of the sunroof. He took it in for a service at the pretentious Melbourne Fiat dealers the other day, who were unimpressed at finding spent .22 rifle shells under the seats—apparently it’s supposed to be a city car.
Friday, 29 March
Fontanella pinot grigio comes in. Big day of pressing.