OATLEY VINEBLOG
OATLEY VINEBLOG
It’s been a classic vintage for the Madeleine. Plenty of flower from last year’s hot July. A good, though not perfect, fruit-set, leaving a big but not overwhelming crop, similar in size to last year. Enough rain in August to swell the grapes and an Indian summer to ripen them. Just lovely condition on Sunday in time for harvest.
We’d been hovering between last Sunday and next Sunday. Glad we plumped for last - grapes ripened up fast that last week.
The weather forecast was good and so it proved. Perfect September day, 20C in the afternoon, and down to 4C overnight to keep the grapes, stacked in tubs in the trailers, fresh. A big picking crew of 26, for the 26 rows, made fairly easy work of it.
Son Ned, and daughter-in-law Paula helped massively with the meal and daughter Liz came back from a wedding weekend just in time to make salads from Sally’s amazing tomatoes. Jan did the flowers and sent them with Sim even though she couldn’t come herself.
Barbecuing whole salmon turned out to be a bit more challenging than we’d thought, but in the end it was worth it - smoky and moist! All seemed to go down OK.
Next day, taking the grapes to the winery was smooth and straightforward. Two trailers - Farmer John’s 3-ton monster full and our horse trailer 2/3 full. Both Steve’s presses were filled and the juice tasted wonderful. The free-run sugar was higher than we’d expected, 75 Oe, and the acid we wouldn’t want any lower: 8.5g/l. Waiting for the final, after-settling figures from Steve.
Many thanks to all who helped, to farmer John for the trailer loan and Steve the winemaker and his team. Joint effort - brilliant! Looking forward to tasting the wine after Christmas.
Photos here>> and video of taking the grapes to the winery here>>
And now it’s time to start obsessing over the Kernling. Just turning to pearly pink (right), but will that massive crop slow down the ripening too much? Should we have thinned the fruit to speed up ripening? The downy mildew patch isn’t looking any worse, thankfully (see previous post)
Left the perimeter netting up in the field ready for the annual Pheasant Games. With advancing years, Milo-the-Collie is getting blasé about chasing them though. Might have to review tactics.
Watch this space...
PS 25 Sep: Steve rang this afternoon with the final figures for the juice: sugar = 76 Oe, acid - 8 g/l. Last year’s Madeleine was a fair bit greener, at 67Oe, 10.5 g/l.
MADELEINE ANGEVINE HARVEST
Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Lovely day: brilliant weather, fantastic grapes, great picking team. The barbecued salmon were, in the end, smoky, moist and delicious!
And at the winery, the juice was as close to perfect for Madeleine as it’s ever been.
And now, the Kernling to obsess over..