BUNCH THINNING

We spend a lot of time in the vineyard between now and harvest. One of the most important tasks we undertake is the removal of unwanted shoots and bunches. This morning I spent an hour or so walking through the Pinot Noir block taking bunches off weak shoots. These weak short shoots don't have enough leaf surface area to ripen these bunches so they are best removed. I took a video as I was doing it--apologies for the awful focus. It's a new camera and I certainly haven't mastered it yet. Hopefully, you will get the idea....

GOLD MEDAL QUALITY--2010 SQUITCHY LANE PINOT NOIR

The 2010 Squitchy Lane Pinot Noir keeps improving as it matures in the bottle. Here's what James Halliday had to say about it in the first edition of his new magazine, "The Wine Companion"

FLOWERING continued

Warm weather and plenty of moisture have provided beautiful growing conditions. The vines are really moving along and flowering is complete in the early varieties such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Look at the growth on the vine below--the same one as in the previous post:

FLOWERING

Some warm weather has hastened flowering. Here's a shot of a Pinot Noir vine, one of the earliest to flower.

 You can see the small inflorescences just beginning to show the white flowers. There is a delightful scent of honey as you walk the rows. It's important to get stable weather during the flowering period so that all the flowers can get fertilised and grow into berries.
A close-up shot shows the flowers in more detail:

I have marked this vine and I will take regular photos to show the development of berries and bunches as the season progresses. Right now, it all looks pretty good.

OPTIMISM PREVAILS

Forget the pessimism in my last posting. The weather has improved, our vineyard operations have been timely and everything looks much more hopeful.
Flowering isn't far off now. I think the predicted warm weather over this coming weekend will push the vines along and we should see the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines starting to flower. Her's a shot of a Pinot Noir vine yesterday--you can see the small bunches forming.

These tiny buds will flower and then, if all goes well, set into berries. Cold weather, rain and wind can upset the flowering process so that berries don't set properly, leading to low yields and straggly bunches. This can be a particular problem in our Sauvignon Blanc vines. 
But if the weather is kind then soon the vineyard will be filled with a delicate scent from the flowering--it's not strong but it is persistent and because there are so many flowers on each vine, you can smell it while walking along the rows.
We are preparing the 2010 Red Square blend for bottling. It looks like being even softer and more approachable than the 2008. And it will have the benefit of a year in bottle before release.

GROUNDHOG DAY in the YARRA VALLEY

It couldn't happen again, could it? Could it? 
Maybe it could and it just possibly is.
What I mean here is a re-run of the completely absurd 2010-11 growing season which was apparently the second-wettest on record (I think 1974 may have beaten it).
As I recall, it started to rain in September and just kept going, all the way through until May. It was not biblical, even though there was plenty of flooding. We also had plenty of pestilence and that's what has prompted this blog.
Weather conditions for this growing season are looking disturbingly similar to last year. We have had plenty of rain and humidity--lovely conditions for disease outbreaks in vineyards. The particular curse at the moment is Downy Mildew:

Here it is on a leaf. It also attacks bunches, stems and canes. With the right conditions, it can devastate a vineyard in a matter of days. The primary infection is likely to occur when we have the so-called 10-10-24 scenario--10 mm of rain with temperatures over 10 C over a 24-hour period. If it takes off and the secondary infection runs rampant, look out.
We have noticed a few primary infections in the vineyard but only one a few water shoots which we have now pruned off and removed. We are guessing that there was such a large carry-over of spores from last season that the disease pressure right now is higher than it has ever been. 
We remain vigilant!
 

MAKING RED WINE

I have just returned from Turkey where I have been helping commission a large new winery for the leading Turkish wine company, Doluca. Lots of interesting things to report but I am particularly happy about the enthusiastic acceptance of the need for aeration of red fermentations.
A quick comment to the very capable engineering crew and they quickly assembled the device you can see in the video. It allows for plenty of splashing of the red ferments as they get pumped over--the idea is to incorporate as much oxygen as we can so that's why we like the waterfall or fountain effect.
Red wine quality looks great this season. We won't see these wines in Australia unfortunately but I can't recommend Turkey highly enough for a holiday and you can taste some wines while you are there.