Tasting the 2019s

Wednesday, 26 February 2020

Exciting day! Tasting the new wines. Always one of the year’s highlights. The Madeleine Angevine is clean and balanced and will be bottled next week. Will be Oatley “Jane’s", probably not released till after the big 2018 vintage is sold out, maybe not till next year.
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A slight disappointment that the Barrel Matureds, from the old barrel (which is filled with 2018 Madeleine Angwevine) and the new (filled with the 2019 which hasn’t had long to mature), are not ready, just not got that trademark intensity yet, so they’ll carry on maturing in the barrels till August when Steve is bottling reds and sparkling. Then they’ll maybe be blended together (our first “Fraîcheur NV?), and be available from September. The barrels will both be refilled with the new 2020 vintage as soon as the ferment is over.

The real excitement was the destined-for-fizz Kernling. Really elegant with distinctive lemony notes. This will have a malolactic fermentation that will give it more body and then have its traditional Champagne method bottle fermentation and we’ll transport it with crown corks on in August to one of the sparkling wine specialists for riddling and disgorging. Arrangements yet to be made.....

So only the Madeleine coming home this spring...

More excitement too, the first time we’ve seen our new Seguin Moreau “Fraicheur” barrique in action, resplendent with the Oatley logo. And new corks with our logo on too. Now our wines are going “naked (no capsules over the corks) we thought we’d get them printed, and Steve’s got them, safely sealed in heavy plastic bags.


In  the vineyard, unremitting wet weather has slowed pruning. We try not to prune in the wet because it makes serious fungal infections in the vines more likely. We’re only about a third done. Only had 2 days dry enough to dry out our concrete hard standing fully since September!

Family well. All here for Christmas which was a great joy. Liv in Copenhagen is now 2 and starting to converse and twins Albert and Edith one and toddling.

Froala