There were moments this winter when I thought I'd lost every vine.
A wild Scotsman on the west coast told me that for his first eight seasons he was sure he'd killed everything each winter. Then he planted another 30 Ha on a different farm and went through the same process for another five years.
Our god-send of a viticulturalist Mr. A. Teubes (for now we call him "King of All Vines") laughs at me each July when I call him because I'm sure I've got woolly buds when I should be spraying bud break...he then tells me to relax and I send him a cell phone pic of the buds...then he laughs and tell me to wait another two weeks before spraying...he's been right for four years. But what did I do this year, I panicked for two weeks.
In a way we panic from just prior to bud burst, into the flowering, into the fruit set, the green drop, the rising sugar levels and in truth through the length and breadth of the whole season…until well into winter.
So why do we do this silly madness? Is it fun? Is it wonderful to live so close to the land? We love Baboons? Flocks of thousands of red wing starlings make my heart soar? I enjoy 2am to 4am for strolling around the house and re-filing my cd collection? I like watching “The Dirty Dozen”, again (I’m currently on viewing number 247)?
We "do this" madness for many reasons mostly though we're proud to give something back to the world that has no additives and cannot be made in a Chinese factory and really, THE WINE IS SO GOOD. We "do this" simply and plainly, for the wine.
It is about the place. It is about the climate. It is about the vine. Mostly though, its about those little grape bunches. Perfect and un-irrigated. The soil and sunlight transformed into wine.
With that,
I'm off to have a glass of 2006 summer-time sunlight.
Love,
Jake
We're pruning, getting ready to bottle, selling stock, cleaning babies tukii (plural of tukus)...
Teddy Roosevelt said, "Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
Planting vines, growing grapes, wine-making and wine maturation all follow those lines so closely that to distinguish a "made" wine from a picked wine is harder and harder to do...
Pick the ultimate Viognier and watch as the barrel spoils the party. Pick Shiraz too early and taste the weedy green tannins in the un-fermented juice. Pick a red too late and force yourself to re-hydrate so your alcohol levels match industry norms. Plant Chardonnay in the wind and watch as your whole crop flies away in the first big October wind. Success though is elusive and dangerous.
Elusive because everyone in the industry is shooting for the same magic. Dangerous because then you must recreate the magical situation that you encountered in the year you last made the wine.
So better still to make different wines every year. Make 42 different labels of wine and hide in the anonymity of the multitude of different styles and varietals. Why make two or four wines. Why subject yourself to the scrutiny of the one land one wine terrior test.
We tried and succeeded with the Chardonnay. This year we're coaxing the barrels and playing wonderful music to eek out the same flavours and layers that the 2006 Chardonnay is showing. The Viognier is ready to bottle and we're starting to worry that its going to go through a late malo conversion and loose the wonderful flavours and acids its currently showing. the Shiraz needs to be racked off the malo lees and moved into the Anwilka barrels (hopefully the high Parker points will rub off), etc.,.
In short, we've chosen to dare the difficult path; furthermore, though we may fail, our intention is greatness and wild success. And with hope, the failures will be as majestic and inspirational as the overwhelming successes.
Love,
Jake
Planting vines, growing grapes, wine-making and wine maturation all follow those lines so closely that to distinguish a "made" wine from a picked wine is harder and harder to do...
Pick the ultimate Viognier and watch as the barrel spoils the party. Pick Shiraz too early and taste the weedy green tannins in the un-fermented juice. Pick a red too late and force yourself to re-hydrate so your alcohol levels match industry norms. Plant Chardonnay in the wind and watch as your whole crop flies away in the first big October wind. Success though is elusive and dangerous.
Elusive because everyone in the industry is shooting for the same magic. Dangerous because then you must recreate the magical situation that you encountered in the year you last made the wine.
So better still to make different wines every year. Make 42 different labels of wine and hide in the anonymity of the multitude of different styles and varietals. Why make two or four wines. Why subject yourself to the scrutiny of the one land one wine terrior test.
We tried and succeeded with the Chardonnay. This year we're coaxing the barrels and playing wonderful music to eek out the same flavours and layers that the 2006 Chardonnay is showing. The Viognier is ready to bottle and we're starting to worry that its going to go through a late malo conversion and loose the wonderful flavours and acids its currently showing. the Shiraz needs to be racked off the malo lees and moved into the Anwilka barrels (hopefully the high Parker points will rub off), etc.,.
In short, we've chosen to dare the difficult path; furthermore, though we may fail, our intention is greatness and wild success. And with hope, the failures will be as majestic and inspirational as the overwhelming successes.
Love,
Jake
We're all equal under the rain...
Winter jest done come ‘bout a month too soon...
Seriously though, May was freakishly cold and the contrasting temps of 6C during the day and below zero at night contributed to a dusting of a fair bit of snow on our mountains.
Then we had a mad rush to protect our glorious Chardonnay vines as they sprouted green tips last week when temps reached 14C...
hmmm just a few months early...then we received a fair bit of sub 3C weather and well that was that with the errant green tips.
We're madly trying to get our bottom cottage fixed for visitors by next season.
We're casting out our net to bring in pickers/capable hands to help with our next harvest...we'll see what time brings.
FYI!!!!! (loud drum roll)
The 2006 Lismore Estate Vineyards Chardonnay is officially available for purchase!
We sold our first bottle last Thursday and though it was to another winemaker a sale is a sale is a sale. We have 900 bottles of fantastic chardonnay that could win every prize in its category but we simply haven't got enough to submit. Several "in the know" wine “fundi” types were full of praise for our maiden vintage (even though the grapes were bought in from Klein Constantia). We continue to know that quality has no "team" in the word, only team has team, and yes an "i" is in quality; but it's only a matter of taste.
So taste our quality Chardonnay asap... cause its going quickly.
Much love to all of you out there,
J.
Seriously though, May was freakishly cold and the contrasting temps of 6C during the day and below zero at night contributed to a dusting of a fair bit of snow on our mountains.
Then we had a mad rush to protect our glorious Chardonnay vines as they sprouted green tips last week when temps reached 14C...
hmmm just a few months early...then we received a fair bit of sub 3C weather and well that was that with the errant green tips.
We're madly trying to get our bottom cottage fixed for visitors by next season.
We're casting out our net to bring in pickers/capable hands to help with our next harvest...we'll see what time brings.
FYI!!!!! (loud drum roll)
The 2006 Lismore Estate Vineyards Chardonnay is officially available for purchase!
We sold our first bottle last Thursday and though it was to another winemaker a sale is a sale is a sale. We have 900 bottles of fantastic chardonnay that could win every prize in its category but we simply haven't got enough to submit. Several "in the know" wine “fundi” types were full of praise for our maiden vintage (even though the grapes were bought in from Klein Constantia). We continue to know that quality has no "team" in the word, only team has team, and yes an "i" is in quality; but it's only a matter of taste.
So taste our quality Chardonnay asap... cause its going quickly.
Much love to all of you out there,
J.
2007 CRUSH IS IN WOOD
We're wrapping up another season.
2007 is sitting in wood or fermenting through malolactic in stainless.
The Jumbo bins are clean. The small lug crates are clean and stacked.
The vines have gotten their copper spray, the diathane and the fertilisers they require after this hot year.
The blocks have all been ploughed and we're seeding today the 12th of April, 2007. We've had ten days of downright cold conditions (2 degrees C at night and 17-18 C during the day), and three to four days of really decent rain...perfect for germinating a winter grain crop (this year we're sowing rye grass).
The Syrah from the bottom block is the standout so far. Well the Viognier is head and shoulders in front of most of the other wines, but it’s the house favourite. The Cabernet Sauvignon from the valley is rich and filled with really wonderfully ripe fruit. The top blocks of Syrah will need more wood time and might be perfect for a 92 from Parker.
The Chardonnay is dry. It's got a high acid level so we're pushing for it to go through malolactic conversion as soon as possible (though this mostly involves coercion through conversation which is often very difficult as the yeasts are finished goofing off in the barrels). We're stirring the lees, coaxing the yeasts, chatting up the lactic acids and in general halting all personal consumption of all wine. Four months of tasting, tasting, tasting and more tasting can drive your gut to expansion and your mind to distraction.
For now we're happy and our wines are resting.
More soon.
Love,
All of us.
2007 is sitting in wood or fermenting through malolactic in stainless.
The Jumbo bins are clean. The small lug crates are clean and stacked.
The vines have gotten their copper spray, the diathane and the fertilisers they require after this hot year.
The blocks have all been ploughed and we're seeding today the 12th of April, 2007. We've had ten days of downright cold conditions (2 degrees C at night and 17-18 C during the day), and three to four days of really decent rain...perfect for germinating a winter grain crop (this year we're sowing rye grass).
The Syrah from the bottom block is the standout so far. Well the Viognier is head and shoulders in front of most of the other wines, but it’s the house favourite. The Cabernet Sauvignon from the valley is rich and filled with really wonderfully ripe fruit. The top blocks of Syrah will need more wood time and might be perfect for a 92 from Parker.
The Chardonnay is dry. It's got a high acid level so we're pushing for it to go through malolactic conversion as soon as possible (though this mostly involves coercion through conversation which is often very difficult as the yeasts are finished goofing off in the barrels). We're stirring the lees, coaxing the yeasts, chatting up the lactic acids and in general halting all personal consumption of all wine. Four months of tasting, tasting, tasting and more tasting can drive your gut to expansion and your mind to distraction.
For now we're happy and our wines are resting.
More soon.
Love,
All of us.
You wanna some red wine, Yeah?
It has begun!
Last year we made wine by hand with Samantha's visiting parents Ada & George who sat and stood in front of 800 litre Jumbo Bins and stripped 610kg of grapes off of their stems.
Sound easy...I think not.
It's like learning to compose Trois Gymnopedes I with a Kazoo. Realistically, it takes over 30 minutes to strip one lug box filled with black and purple grapes (that really resemble ticks in the wrong light). And, you've got to fill each Jumbo Bin with a minimum of 33 lugs full of grapes. Do the math... 30min per lug times 33 plus one hour for lunch plus 30min lost to pee breaks plus another 30min lost to sending the empty lugs and stems to the empty jumbo bins outside (to be eaten by the Baboons later)...
...that equals (ok the square of the hypotenuse divided by the sum E as E=energy spent over time, divided by some silly term denoting honest hopes and desires of finishing before mid-night and that makes) = 18 hours/per Jumbo Bin...give or take bad math.
It takes for-flippen-ever to get one jumbo bin ready with grapes. The top photo, by the way, is from the early part of the day. At the end of the day I'd given up stripping for topping up the barrels and taking the Balling samples. Sam was crushed under the collective weight of Keenan, Quinn and Jessica all demanding her time "NOW!" Then she had the audacity to try and help even though there was no chance in hell of Ralph letting anyone interrupt his rhythm.
John and Jullian both quit the following day.
This work is not for the faint of heart or the timid of soul...it is the work of Giants.
And, thankfully, the wine reflects the greatness of the participants.
Next year we're going to borrow someone's grape de-stemmer. That way Sam and I can do the work by ourselves...
...and Ralph can just press the button.
Love,
J.
Last year we made wine by hand with Samantha's visiting parents Ada & George who sat and stood in front of 800 litre Jumbo Bins and stripped 610kg of grapes off of their stems.
Sound easy...I think not.
It's like learning to compose Trois Gymnopedes I with a Kazoo. Realistically, it takes over 30 minutes to strip one lug box filled with black and purple grapes (that really resemble ticks in the wrong light). And, you've got to fill each Jumbo Bin with a minimum of 33 lugs full of grapes. Do the math... 30min per lug times 33 plus one hour for lunch plus 30min lost to pee breaks plus another 30min lost to sending the empty lugs and stems to the empty jumbo bins outside (to be eaten by the Baboons later)...
...that equals (ok the square of the hypotenuse divided by the sum E as E=energy spent over time, divided by some silly term denoting honest hopes and desires of finishing before mid-night and that makes) = 18 hours/per Jumbo Bin...give or take bad math.
It takes for-flippen-ever to get one jumbo bin ready with grapes. The top photo, by the way, is from the early part of the day. At the end of the day I'd given up stripping for topping up the barrels and taking the Balling samples. Sam was crushed under the collective weight of Keenan, Quinn and Jessica all demanding her time "NOW!" Then she had the audacity to try and help even though there was no chance in hell of Ralph letting anyone interrupt his rhythm.
John and Jullian both quit the following day.
This work is not for the faint of heart or the timid of soul...it is the work of Giants.
And, thankfully, the wine reflects the greatness of the participants.
Next year we're going to borrow someone's grape de-stemmer. That way Sam and I can do the work by ourselves...
...and Ralph can just press the button.
Love,
J.
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2008 Chardonnay
Snow in the clouds...
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