After two years of making wine on a micro level in my garage, the time had come to get serious. With my wingman Darrell, it was game on.
Shiraz was the weapon of choice for my 2014 vintage. The fruit comes from Ballandean on Queensland's Granite Belt 2.5-3 hours south west of Brisbane. Four hundred kilograms of dry grown fruit were hand picked from 40 year old vines which were in very good condition. If anything, the berries were starting to bag up a little.
The fruit was hand loaded into the crush leaving 25% whole bunches. These whole bunches were all pushed to the bottom of the bin. Within twenty minutes of the crushed fruit sitting in the bin, wild fermentation began to take place. Nice! This was inoculated with Clos yeast and a dash of French oak dust was added. The cap will be plunged three times a day by hand.
After fermentation is complete, the wine will be pressed off into a 15 year old American oak barrel. My plan is for the fruit to be the hero with minimal oak influence and the barrel simply being a vessel to house it.
Around Easter time (early to mid April), the wine will be racked off and the barrel cleaned out. The barrel will then be refilled and will sit for six months.
I aim to bottle the wine in October.
Stay tuned for updates and analysis!
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