Hi again…

Feb 22 and we are marching to the beat of minimum sleep, hard work and great aromas as the ferments engulf the winery.

So far we have picked all lower yarra pinot and the woori chard which looks stunning. Still on the vine is upper yarra pinot and the late varieties including riesling (Strathbogies), Syrah (Gruyere) and the Cabernets. We have had some great weather for ripening and envisage a busy couple of weeks ahead.

We are picking today our 1 Tonne parcel off one acre of Woori Yallock. This will be our first chance to really evaluate low cropping on this vineyard so we are all dropping what we are doing to head out for a few hours to do a slow and selective pick.

Alan and JK have stepped up to the demands with ease while Manu (and Elodie) who have arrived from the UK via France has quickly come to grips with vintage life.

Also attached is a photo of one of our Blaufrankisch vines… very exciting to actually see this Austrian vine handling our summer. Grafting commencing at the end of 2010.

Enjoy Autumn everyone….And when i get back on here we will hopefully be reporting that all pinot and chardonnay is in and looking good.

Mac

Hi All,

Once again footstomping has come and gone with the chaos of vintage mixed in with the fresh faces and energy so desperately required after a long week.

Please see the photos attached for those that missed out.

Thanks for those who came. The fruit you stomped is now fermenting away and looks great.

8.15am… I have just arrived back at the winery after a taste and walk through the gruyere vineyard or Warwick Bisley and the exciting news is things are looking fantastic…

Chardonnay tastes great and we are now expecting to commence picking sometime between Feb 11 – 14,,,,,

Also, we have finalised our FOOTSTOMPING DAY. Please see the invitation attached which will also be emailed out at the end of the week to our mailing list. Should you have any questions, please email me on mac@macforbes.com

Hopefully I’ll see you soon.

Cheers,

Mac

Footstomping 2010

Mac spent some time with Warwick Bisley at our Gruyere site on Wednesday, having a look at the fruit and having a taste of the Pinot Noir. Warwick has been busy doing a ‘green harvest’ or dropping fruit to take some strain off the vines and improve the quality of the remaining bunches. Things are moving along well there and we might even sample for acid and sugar next week!

Later in the day Mac and I went out to Woori Yallock for a look at the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, after some hot weather we were surprised to see how advanced the fruit was. With some rain and cooler conditions over the last week maturity has moderated a little and we suspect it is now 10-12 days behind the warmer sites of Coldstream and Yarra Glen.

The next sites to visit will be Yarra Glen and Dixons creek.

Cheers

Dylan

WOORI YALLOCK CHARDONNAY

What a season!

Things have been very busy in the vineyards recently. Before christmas we had some good rains and warm weather which meant lots of canopy growth to manage. Wire lifting was frantic for a few weeks until things settled down, and then it was time for trimming! The christmas break was timely. Mac shouted the team to a great lunch at the new Movida (and treated us to a little Didier Dagueneau number among other things) which was memorable.

No sooner do we get back from christmas the temperature hits 44 degrees one day and 7 days later its 15 degrees accompanied by 44mm of rain!

Enough of the chat, have a look at these:

Veraison is upon us already (Woori Yallock and Yarra Glen)

You can also see we have set up a mulch treatment on the close planted Yarra Glen Pinot (including temperature data loggers) in order to reduce soil temperature (and hopefully fruit zone temperature) and retain more soil moisture.

Dyl