Day 9 - 27th February

Wow, a really tiring day. I’m writing this at 7pm with an estimated knock off time of 11pm...hmmm..It will be hard to put one word in front of another tonight but I’ll have a go.

The good news is that with the help of our long time amazing picking team, we have harvested the 2026 Chardonnay from under the very miffed eyes of that resident murder of crows. This is a very good thing although those feathered fiends are now taking up residence in the Riesling.

I hope they understand how attacking our Riesling pushes my buttons and triggers my finger.

We have won the battle but the war continues.

Nothing knocks the philosophy out of a bloke like a long hard day of work but it is a joy when the tasks of the day, however long, are achieved.

We now have a generous tank of Chardonnay in the winery courtesy of the work of the many humans we employed here at Bloodwood today. Our pickers turn up on time and work away throughout the day gathering and loading the fruit en route to the winery.

Our team of twenty and one bucket boy (and it almost always is a male) is so efficient that the turnaround time between 400kg bins today was 13 minutes.

That means 40 10kg buckets of Chardonnay picked, loaded and delivered to the press within on average every 13 minutes.

That’s how long it takes to get on to the M4 parking lot lately in Sydney peak hour.

Now I know we are all being lectured on “productivity” and the happy assurance that AI will take over most of the work force over the next decade, but I think we are doing all right.

And the fact that we treat our staff with the respect they deserve and pay actual humans actual money for their hard labour means a better suck of the Chardonnay bottle for all concerned.

As soon as we pick a vineyard I like to give it a precious irrigation.

This ‘thank you” means the harvest stressed vineyard will hold on to its foliage longer into autumn and make the most of the normal flush of root growth and its potential for carbohydrate storage in the trunk and roots of each vine which helps the next vintage..So the water we apply today is for February or March 2027.

It’s a long term project this wine making caper.

Hallelujah and praise the Pinot ferment god. As predicted in yesterday’s epistle, She has decided to begin fermenting the 26 Pinot. It is a touch slow as the must is at around 14 C in the barrel cool room but there is movement at last. Expect bigger things over the weekend with a couple of hand plungings and an increase in temperature.

If you are going to be an artisan wine maker be prepared for long and sticky days and nights.

Cheers,

Stephen and Rhonda