VINTAGE. It's the most wonderful time of the year. 

Holidays are good.

Christmas is alright, and the beach is fine (apart from the sand), but there's nothing quite like vintage the promise, the potential.

The hope and expectation. Will the vineyard gods deliver? Will we create alchemy in the winery? What curveballs will the weather throw? What dramas will unfold to test our skills and patience? What new wines / techniques / equipment can we experiment with? 

Paul (our very own vineyard god / Manager) has worked his magic and produced truly beautiful fruit from the 57 year old gnarly vines he tends carefully year after year. That's the most important part taken care of.

Next comes the brain teaser of what to pick and when, juggling competing priorities to manage fermenters, refrigeration and tanks. We sample, taste & test to help us decide. I sometimes dream of just making a couple of perfect wines and having the luxury of pouring all our time and resources into them alone, but maybe the temptation to overwork and overthink would be its own downfall. Also, I managed to persuade the holder of the purse strings to let me buy a couple of new fermenters this year - will make life easier and the wine even better! And besides, every batch brings its own unique possibilities for greatness. No point in having a race car sitting in the garage - got to drive it!

And now for the really fun bit. It all begins with a pre-dawn alarm as picking starts in the cool of first light under the watchful eye of Paul and Tim. Paul delivers picking bins full of the fruit of his labour to the winery, and we get cracking. 

Our philosophy is to intervene as little as possible and to take our time to get the best expression of the fruit and style. 

Cold-soaking to slowly allow flavours to emerge. Hand-plunging to manage tannin development without overworking the fruit. Basket pressing to gently control extraction. And then to rest, slowly maturing in oak for 20 months or more. 

Long, hard, sticky, sweaty days, spill into late nights pumping over ferments and managing refrigeration.

Sore limbs and backs, an appetite like a horse that's been earned and must be satiated guilt-free.

The cleansing ale at the end of a hard and hot day.

Clean, clean and clean some more. Repeat until done. I love every minute. 

Cheers, Tim. Chief Winemaker (best job in the world) & Lucky Man