There is a lot happening in the vineyard at the moment. Damon Wanless, our young winery and vineyard hand, is busy spreading fertiliser, turning over and seeding the mid rows to improve soil conditions which is another step in our goal towards becoming a sustainable and biodynamic vineyard. Peter Kammann, our highly experienced vineyard hand, is busy repairing and maintaining any damaged trellising that occurred during harvest and cleaning up after the winter storms to ensure that the property is maintained to the highest level. Pruning has just commenced, the Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon are the first to be pruned as they are the last varieties to ripen. An early prune encourages the vines to shoot a little earlier, so there is less chance the vines will be affected by weather events towards the end of harvest. We will leave it as late as possible to prune the Chardonnay vines to avoid early budding and the risk of any damaging Spring hail. We are lucky to have a great team who meticulously prune, train and maintain our vines to deliver the best possible fruit to the winery.
Making wine is an immense team effort and it really is the work done in the vineyard which makes the biggest difference to the quality of the fruit.