The Domain Road team at the winery!
The fruits of our labours - we had the opportunity this week to taste a selection of the 2022 vintage from both tank and barrel. A hint of what's to come from the harvest this year. Always an exciting time as we get to see how the wines are developing and what the time spent in the vineyard and winery has achieved. We spent an interesting hour sampling Rosé, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, and our two Rieslings from the tank and then went on to the barrel rooms for Pinot, Chardonnay, Symposium and our latest addition to the fold, a white port.
Yes, it is ice on the tanks, the Gris at the moment is going through cold stabilisation. This is an essential part of wine making as it prevents the precipitation of crystals (tartrates) in the wine after bottling, Such deposits are not well accepted by the consumer! The wine at this point is at about -4 degrees so definately not the temperature at which you would normal drink it!
In contrast the barrel room is several notches warmer than the main winery! These barrels are of varying ages and specify on them which vineyard the fruit has come from and which clone or sometimes mix of clones is in each barrel. The '21' you can see on the barrel means it is a two year old barrel.
In order to do a sample from the barrel Scott, our wine maker, uses a 'Wine Thief' to extract a small amount.....
and transfer it to Graeme's glass. Here we are comparing the difference that barrel age can make on the wine as we tried a sample from two different age barrels, the tannin was clearly more evident in the newer barrel.
We moved on to another barrel room at this point and tried some of the Chardonnay - this was still going through malolactic fermentation and yeast lees stirring so was quite cloudy as would be expected. It was interesting to try two barrels with different clones, especially 809, which is the clone which gives the Chardonnay its distinctive muscat aroma.
Those of you who visit our Cellar Door over the summer will be able to try the new vintages of Rosé, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and Symposium. You will need to wait a little longer though for the other wines from this year's vintage. Our Cellar Door team of Maria, Jennie and Theresa will be there to welcome you and look forward to showcasing these new wines.
Last but not least - a group photo as we tasted the new port....a great way to finish an interesting and informative morning.
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