"Spring has finally sprung and with the winter rains being plentiful, the water reserves in the soil and dam are now at capacity. The vines have been pruned and wrapped down and are ready for the growing season ahead. Although the vines have been quite dormant, work in the vineyard has not stopped as there are people repairing posts, repairing wires, dropping wires and repairing drip lines ready for the coming season.
Chardonnay and Pinot vines are now shooting with the Chardonnay shoots measuring around 10cm long producing a nice sea of fluorescent green throughout the blocks. The budburst throughout the vineyard is remarkably even, a promising sign of a good season to come.
Fortunately, touch wood, we haven’t had any strong winds or hail this year which can be quite damaging to the young shoots, if not devastating. We also escaped frost damage when unfortunately some nearby vineyards were not so lucky. This could be due to the chardonnay vines being located close to the dam which has held all the recent rains.
The winery has also been busy continuing on from vintage with wines getting prepared and bottled. The red barrels have been racked and returned to help clean up the wine while the Chardonnay barrels continue to be stirred and topped every 2-4 weeks. Although still 3 months away, vintage planning has already started with the decision of which oak barrels to use and how many we need to make the best wine possible. We need to order the oak early to get the barrels here on time ready for vintage as they need to come from France via cargo ship.
There is never a dull moment in the life at Thompson Estate".
Paul Dixon, Winemaker