Grape Harvest

Grapes look good.

Tested Brix Friday 20th September 5pm;

Pecorino 24.5
Montepulciano 21
Sangiovese 23

Grapes look good.  Pecorini small, some browning, some wasp damage, but on the whole looks in reasonable condition.

Red Grapes both look very good, big bunches, very little wasp damage. On the Sangiovese a few bunches were rasiny, but overall big black beautiful bunches.

Picked 121.6 Kgs Pecorino 3pm Saturday 21st.
Picked 76 Kgs Sangiovese 5pm Saturday 21st

Destemmed for 15 minutes then left in cold room overnight.

BRIX UPDATE

Weather not too good, quite a bit of rain, mid 20 degrees.  I hope the grapes will ripen.

The fruit looks good, Brix levels measured today at;

Montepulciano;  13
Sangiovese;        16
Pecorino Row 1;   12
Pecorino Row 2;   13

Vineyard Update

We have had quite a lot of rain recently.  Heavy rain again today.  Grapes are very vigorous, and loaded with fruit, it looks like it will be a big crop this year. I am planning to do some pretty severe summer pruning to cut back a lot of the growth over the next few days.

Bottling

All 3 wines bottled over the past few days.  1 gram of Sulphite added per 20 Litres.  All wines are looking very clear and tasting excellent.  These are definitely the best wines we have made yet.

Update 1st April

All 3 wines racked on Monday 1st April after lunch.  White and Rose looking much clearer, Montepulciano very clear.  All wines showing good clean flavours.

Wine Update

Took a look at our 3 wines today, 30th March am.

Montepulciano Rose looking very clear, sparkling bright.  Good flavour, very dry, slightly acidic.  We sulphited at 1.5 grams per 20 litres and then added 4 grams of Sugar per litre.

Sangiovese Rose, looking slightly hazy.  We sulphited at 1.5 grams per 20 litres and added Bentonite to fine.

Pecorino White, looking slightly hazy. We sulphited at 1.5 grams per 20 litres and added Bentonite to fine.

We also tasted and sampled the white Pecorino from 2011.  Really pleasant so bottled most of it into 2 Litre bottles for summer quaffing.

Pruning Spring 2013

Vines pruned again end of March.  Same as last year, so 4 buds on montepulciano, 6 buds on  Sangiovese, and 8-10 buds on the Pecorino.  Helped by Duncan, Judith and Robert, pruning took us about a day and a half.