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25 May 2001 -
Harvest 2001
The warm dry autumn resulted in prolonged heat retention, giving exceptional flavour concentration- possibly the best season yet.The dryness has meant a total lack of late fungal diseases, and this coupled with lower than usual bird and wasp numbers has contibuted to excellent vine health and, consequently, predicted tonnages being right on target.
This year we successfully trialled a new system whereby the fruit was picked into buckets and tipped into trailers moving slowly down the rows as the crews picked. This allowed improved quality control. With each trailer carrying just over a tonne of grapes and being driven straight to the winery when full,life was made much more manageable for winery staff, with fruit arriving consistently throughout the day rather than in truck loads late in the afternoon, as happened previously.
We are now building up a skilled labour force and have been thrilled with the picking teams this year. While the majority of the grape picking is done by hand, we are fortunate to have a mechanical harvester to call on when required for some of the white varieties.
For the first time some Pinot Gris is being left to hang on the vines in the hope of making a Vendange Tardive wine. This is an Alsatian style, which highlights the fruit sweetness and flavours, and for this we need dry weather. But with our last day's picking being done with a light dusting of snow on the hills, we may have to wait fot another time.
With the stunning autumn colours rapidly fading and the vines shedding their leaves we are reminded that winter is close by and the pruning tools are being sharpened! |
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