"A small but perfectly formed vintage..."
Vineyard update - 28 April 2010
Vintage 2010 was small but perfectly formed at Willow Creek Vineyard: We had none of the natural phenomena that have plagued the past couple of years, just light crops and warm sunny days with some occasional well-placed rain.
But while vintage is over and autumn has well and truly arrive - it's about 15°C and drizzling - there's still plenty of work to be done around the winery. This week we are pressing the cabernet sauvignon after an extended maceration to allow the plentiful tannins to accumulate and soften.
Chardonnay has completed its barrel fermentation and has been topped and stirred a couple of times, allowing the autolysing yeast to provide both protection from oxidation and plenty of mid-palate texture as the wine ages in the barrels.
The pinot noir is sitting in barrels and gradually ticking through malolactic fermentation to soften the acidity, though it will probably not complete this transformation until the spring.
The 2010 sauvignon blanc, pinot gris and rosé are looking great and we will start preparing them for bottling during the winter months after spending some more time on lees to help round out the palate and complement the dominant fresh fruit characteristics.
"An early vintage but no time for rest..."
I have seen some amazing changed in the vineyard over the last 16 years, especially with the harvest dates which seem to be getting earlier each year.
This year vintage finished on 6 April when we brought in the last of the Cabernet but in years gone by we have still been harvesting will into footy season, so the weather is certainly changing.
While vintage may be over, we don't have our feet up admiring the scenery! Winter has well and truly set in but we are out and about pruning and preparing the vines for a well earned rest over the cooler months.
This year we are cane pruning rather that spur pruning which will help increase the yield for next year and generally freshen the vines up for the new season. This will particularly help increase our production of Pinot Nior and Pinot Gris for 2011.
So for now it's beanies and coats on and heads down as we get things prepared for the new season ahead.
Robbie O'Leary - Viticulturist
"We're pretty optimistic about our 2010 Vintage...."
Vineyard update - March 2010
We're pretty optimistic about our 2010 vintage: the vineyard is nice and even with healthy canopies and an average of a 4 to 5 tonne crop per hectare. The warm, dry weather was ideal for ripening and it looks like we'll be harvesting in mid-March. But we've got our fingers, toes and eyes firmly crossed for kind weather until then!
We've got new equipment for vintage - a de-stemmer designed specifically for gently handling pinot noir, and a fruit elevator, which makes loading whole bunches into the press more efficient and safe. While the quality of the wine is determined by the fruit from the vineyard, our new equipment ensures that this quality is maintained in the winery.
We have also just bottled my very first Willow Creek wines - the 2009 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir - with fresh new labels. They are beautiful and clean and contain technical information, which will hopefully be of interest and bring a bit of the vineyard to the table. They're released later this year and I can't wait!
