Monday 27 March 2006
The chardonnay was picked this weekend. Another low yielding crop, but ripe and full flavoured grapes. We intend to produce a "top end" barrel fermented wine.
The pinot noir ferment is continuing well, vat temperatures at 31 celcius.
A few pics of the vineyard activities:
Pippyn, Julie, Triin and Greg...still smiling.
Sean, in full control of the picking activities.
Monday 20 March 2006
Just learnt that our 2004 Cabernet won GOLD at the International Cool Climate Wineshow 2006 and the 2003 Pinot Noir won BRONZE, YIPPEE!
Okay, back to work. We picked our first grapes of the vintage yesterday, the 2006 Pinot Noir. A small crop, only 1.5 tonnes, but loaded with flavour as one would expect with a cropping level of only 1 tonne to the acre. We expect to make a "top end" pinot with this fruit. Currently in the fermenting pot under C02 with pectic enzyme softening up the must.
This week we expect to recieve a parcel of Riesling from Geelong for our Barwon Ridge label, so we need to make sure the airbag press is dusted down and ready for work.
It's Saturday 11 Feb 2006
Today we concentrated on doing work in the winery. We still have to finish off the 2005 wines to make space for the coming 2006 vintage.
Key tasks today was to rack the '05 chardonnay and the '05 Cabernet/Merlot, a new blend from KKG.
Racking a wine simply means separating the clear wine from the sediment that drops to the bottom of the wine vat. This needs to be done several times prior to bottling in order to clear the wine. In the case of white wines we also need to "cold stabilise" the wine through the use of refrigeration. The wine is chilled to -5 celcius for several weeks, purpose is to force any precipatates to "drop out" in the winery vat rather than in the bottle at the restaurant. this is a process essential for the marketability of white wines but not necessary with reds as they are usually consumed at room temperature.
The following pic. shows the refrigetation unit in place to chill the '05 chardonnay. Bruce Ford and Rob Sampimon are feeling pretty chuffed!
Has everbody watched that great movie "Sideways"? The next pic. is my version of that great movie. Centre stage is our new machine to insert corks under vacuum or gas. Another step forwards in wine quality for Kings of Kangaroo Ground.
We put bird netting on the "home block".
THE TEAM! Thankyou.
Left to right: Statesman Bruce Ford, CM Tabecki and friend Ms Care Crow, Amie and Campbell Sharp, Anthony "Wyatt Earp" George, Mark Burung "Dutchy", Smokin' Ashleigh Muir, Inigo George (wild caged beast), Mr Bean Crow, Rob "Dole" Sampimon.
..........and on the right hand side, Ken King the tractor driver who had the sit down job.
In the background one can see the extra power lines brought in to power the new semi automatic corking machine.
What's happening at Kings of Kangaroo Ground weeks 3 and 4 January 2006
As we have early veraison (ripening), key task this coming week is to get the pinot noir and chardonnay vines ready for application of the bird netting. This work involves:
- The final summer trimming done manually with lightweight hedgeshears
- Leaf plucking to expose the grapes to sunlight. If this was not done, there is a greater risk of powdery mildew damaging the crop.
- Final folia spray to protect grapes
- Mowing the vineyard.
This work will have to be done in the early hours of the morning as it is tipped to be a very hot week. Today Jan 21st 38C, tomorrow 43C and more to come.
Sunset over the vines, January 20 2006
23/1: Phew, that was hot yesterday! 41.5 celsius. 30kph wind. The vines looked sad but have recovered well overnight thanks to the great water retention of our deep black soil.
| Date/ Time |
Temp |
Dew Point |
Rel Hum |
Delta-T |
Wind |
Press |
Rain since 9 am |
| Dir |
Speed |
Gust |
Speed |
Gust |
| EDT |
°C |
°C |
% |
°C |
km/h |
knots |
hPa |
mm |
| 22 22:00 |
20.6 |
16.0 |
75 |
SSW |
26 |
14 |
54 |
29 |
1008.7 |
0.0 |
| 22 20:59 |
23.1 |
17.1 |
69 |
SW |
39 |
21 |
57 |
31 |
1005.4 |
0.0 |
| 22 20:00 |
38.9 |
11.1 |
19 |
N |
20 |
11 |
30 |
16 |
1000.9 |
0.0 |
| 22 19:00 |
40.0 |
11.2 |
18 |
NNW |
22 |
12 |
43 |
23 |
999.9 |
0.0 |
| 22 18:00 |
40.3 |
12.2 |
19 |
N |
26 |
14 |
48 |
26 |
999.8 |
0.0 |
| 22 17:00 |
40.6 |
10.8 |
17 |
NNW |
35 |
19 |
56 |
30 |
1000.0 |
0.0 |
| 22 16:00 |
41.5 |
13.2 |
19 |
NNW |
30 |
16 |
48 |
26 |
1000.7 |
0.0 |
24/1: Cooler today so we can do vineyard work. Bruce is trimming the chardonnay in readiness for the nets that we plan to put on this week.
26/1: Our national holiday "Australia Day". Yesterday, Bruced finished the canopy work on the chardonnay. Thanks Bruce. It's too hot today to work in the vineyard, expecting another c.40 celcius day. We are on bushfire guard, buckets and mops ready, as there is a large bushfire to our north-east that could threaten the Kangaroo Ground region if the winds turn from the north to the north east. This is a very serious threat particularly for the north east parts of the yarra Valley.
The Kinglake fire at 10:30 am 26/1 from Kangaroo Ground
It's now 8pm and we are very lucky as a thunderstorm has passed by dumping 5mm on the vineyard.
temperature is down to 28 celcius, a relief! Fires to our north still a threat, only 30 km away.
29/1: Fire at Kinglake was doused by a freak storm. "Bachus" steered the anvil cloud to the fire and let it all fall out. THANKS BACCHUS, THANKS CFA volunteers. The nets are not yet on the vines and we are getting attacked by the feral starlings and Indian Mynas. Some losses but acceptable as we want to get a final sulphur spray on the vines before the nets go on. It's very humid so conditions are perfect for downy and powdery mildew to set in. Pics today are of the scarecrows that seem to be doing a god job in spooking the birds. Best caption "S'oorf, eat somebody elses"
31 January 2006
Today we concentrated on opening up the pinot fruit on the eastern side of the vines as it was getting a bit too shaded from the early morning sun. The west side we have left a bit "bushy" to protect from the afternoon sun. We still have to do a final folia spray before applying the bird netting. The starlings are losing interest as we are keeping up the pressure and making it uncomfortable for them to settle in for a feed. Prime defences are the scarecrows, the trail bike, the blood curdling screams and the hand clapping.