Hitting the Red Zone
Hitting the Red Zone!
As they say, into the final stretch we go. Most of the white grapes are in the cellar, just waiting for Chardonnay from Elgin Valley for Bizoe Idioglossia Chardonnay. It is one of those years with the perfect growing season and balanced wines to be made.
Hitting the final stretch, we are getting all kinds of red cultivars coming into the cellar. Expect to be harvesting Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon during the week at Croydon Vineyards.
The grapes at this stage have beautiful concentration. 2021 will be a vintages you can pack away for a few years, low pH and balanced natural acidity in the grapes.
Until this week there hasn’t been extreme heat waves around. The perfect day temperature and cool nights for the grapes to ripen in.
Red grapes increase your time in the cellar, attending more pump overs and punch downs. Pump overs/punch downs is the process we use in the cellar to circulate the juice over the skin of the grapes. This process helps to extract colour and flavours out of the skin of the grape. In simple terms the skin of the grapes are the tea bag of the wine. Our job as the winemaker is to manage the process and make sure to create the perfect extraction for generations to enjoy your master piece.
I am sure 2021 great wines will make you forget all the strange and difficult times we lived in when we are starting to drink these wines in 2023.
