what's happening in the winery
There is little down time in a winery. Currently we are dividing our time between preparations for the upcoming bottling of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay 2006 in January and the general maintenance and up keep program for the 2007 harvest.
Every year we must evaluate our barrels. As Isabel Estate uses minimal new oak, the selection of Cooperage and toasts are made carefully. Although we only utilize French barrels, the options are endless. The quantity required for each vintage will fluctuate with seasonal variations, so we must estimate our requirements by springtime's 'suggestion' of the seasons to come. 'Seasoned' barrels are one of our favourite tools at the winery as they offer fabulous fermentation vessels without overwhelming the 'occupant' with strong oak flavours - currently we are cleaning and sterilizing the selection used to ferment our 2006 Sauvignon Blanc.
Other general tasks include continuous cleaning and tiding of the winery, a never-ending challenge. Tanks, cellar, machinery, tools and equipment are all carefully inspected to ensure 100% performance. Every year we seek to find new ways to improve 'productivity' at harvest time. This year we are in the midst of revamping our de-stemmer to even further increase its 'gentle' ways.
Stefan Newman, our new Winery Engineer, has been a welcome addition to the winery team. He has quickly thrown himself into several projects, introducing new systems and improving equipment settings to optimize and assist us 'creative' folk during the next vintage. After passing on all bottling line responsibilities to Stefan, I am looking forward to another successful bottling run - his first bottling line 'experience' was last September and everything functioned smoothly and right on time, well done!!!
We are looking forward to tasting the 2006 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir once bottled next year, as barrel samples thus far have been enticing. The wines have been developing extremely well lately and they continue to gain complexity and mouth feel. Until bottling time we will continue working with the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in our underground cellar topping up barrels, checking SO2 levels and observing the wines as they undergo Malolactic fermentation.
The vineyard is looking wonderful these days. We enjoyed a relatively mild winter this year with spring now offering cool mornings and light rain showers. Water tables should be well 'stocked' for our dry growing season. As we near summer, days continue to warm and I am happy to report our vines has escaped yet another frost season.
Mike Newman and his team have been diligent in the vineyard throughout spring offering as much attention and care to the vines as needed. Leaves and vines look extremely healthy and flower set has been even. I anticipate welcoming another great harvest in April.
Until then, I must continue with preparations...and I had better check on the men down in the cellar!
Patricia
