G'day Folks. As an owner and operator of a dry grown vineyard and an advocate of biologically sustainable farming practices, I'm passionate about looking after our environment and keeping on side with Mother Nature.
But after a week of temperature extremes ranging from 18 – 38 degrees C and yet another long day with harvest, it seems that despite my friendly efforts the old girl is still trying to tell me something. She's testing my patience I tell you.
Ever since I've been working vintages and responsible for wine production I can tell you what the seasons have thrown at us because when your good fortune is very much weather dependent… you can be getting lots of sleepless nights. I remember vintage 2000 in the Clare Valley when it was extremely hot in February and our Riesling suffered so badly from sunburn and required very selective hand picking. That was tough going.
I remember the delightfully cool 2002 harvest that produced natural acidity well into the 9 g/l and the 2004 vintage with its long Indian summer which gave us some Cabernet Sauvignon with deliciously vibrant fruit flavour and remains some of the best I've tasted.
My cellar includes wines from all of these vintages - despite their indifference. Each one represents a trip down memory lane. I love reminding myself what I was doing that year, what I was thinking and who was an important part of the journey. Each one helping to make the next stronger in some way.
After the couple of very hot days early this week there's some rain forecast for tomorrow and as someone who adopts biodynamic principles, tomorrow's full moon means there's potentially some unsettled weather with it.
Of course this can all be a little confusing when attempting to schedule in fruit picking. Which blocks will be ready and have all the pickers turned up? Have we enough fermenters for the Shiraz tomorrow and can we still process enough Riesling at the same time? Will I get time to eat lunch tomorrow?....God I didn't even have time to go to the loo today… this is crazy.. It's in testing times like this that past experience and running on gut instinct is invaluable.
Thankfully with all that going on what I really remember from today was how my Riesling was packing a mean punch.
I can't tell you how happy I am to have the first harvest for KT and The Falcon safely in tank. Now that Mother Nature - is something you should be very proud of.
Kerri Thompson is winemaker/director of KT & The Falcon
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