VINEYARD
WINERY
Autumn 2021 - Issue 87
WINERY REPORT Alex Beckett, Winemaker & Gwyn Olsen, Consultant Winemaker Vintage is now underway so it must be Gwyn and my favourite time of year! From the anticipation of ripening and then patiently waiting for the fruit receival to the incredible moment that the juice first flows from the press and you finally taste the array of natural grape flavours. White peach notes of our Chardonnay fruit, to the lively tropical passionfruit nose of the Verdelho - year in and year out. It never ceases to excite us for the possibilities of the vintage’s wines. This report is always an excellent chance for reflection on the conditions of the season and the potential of the vintage. A very cool-moderate and wet spring yielded promising results. We had superb soil moisture and plenty of strong canopies within the vineyards. This, combined with the warm dry seasonal change that came through in mid-January, all but eliminated our fears of disease pressure within the vines. Finally leading into a well-paced ripening period that has given us strong fruit flavour development with all the natural acidity you could hope for. As we go to print, the reds have yet to arrive, but we are very hopeful for continued high quality conditions. This year we are undertaking some new experimental techniques within the winery to see what new flavours and textures can be achieved. At the same time, we are re-embracing some of the tools and techniques of Karl Stockhausen’s era of winemaking with the aim to reinvigorate some of those classic Hunter Valley wines we all love.
VINEYARD UPDATE
Finally, with the covid-19 conditions as they currently are at the time of writing this, I’m hopeful to be able to see some of your friendly faces soon at the first of our Vintage Club Events for 2021! Stay well and importantly… well hydrated. Alex.
Belinda Kelly, Vineyard Manager Vintage 2021 is well underway and looking fantastic! We kicked off Vintage on January 20th, with our Briar Hill Single Vineyard Chardonnay block being selectively hand-picked by a hard-working team, ensuring only the best quality fruit made it the winery. The biggest variance to this time last year is pretty apparent -no drought, no fires, no smoke haze! Only loads of lush green paddocks and ripe, plump and juicy grapes. We have received regular rainfall throughout the growing season, having around double the amount of rain that we had in 2019. With all that rain there has been very little need to irrigate the vines, so all our dams are full which is most ideal. During the previous 4 years of drought the vines were under much more stress and Vintage had commenced much earlier - this year we have returned to a more traditional season, with harvesting starting late January with the expectation that this continues until the end of February. As we never know what Mother Nature has in store for us, as I write this report our Vintage for 2021 is going well. Our vineyards are looking great - so I have my fingers crossed that the sun continues to shine and the rain holds off for another couple of weeks to ensure that we are able to pick the grapes in their best condition.
Off the
Press New Releases & Trophy Winning Wines Cellar Door News | Vineyard Update | Winery Report | and more...
Cheers,
www.briarridge.com.au
Belinda
@briarridge