2024 Big Men in Tights

Vineyard

The grapes for our infamous BMIT are normally sourced from the gravelly mid-slopes of the original 1983 Blend Block planting at Bloodwood. Our Malbec, which comes from an obscure, degraded mustachioed Barista clone of French origin, fruits only moderately. Even though the vineyard is trellised to a modified Scott Henry design and the soils are well drained and friable enough, yields, (unlike the wines), are never flash. (N.B. The Bloodwood Malbec Barista clone is so named because it may always be hairy up front, but it is clean-as clean down below.) Why do they do that??? (N.N.B.B. Because we are re-working the trunks of the Malbec and Cabernet Franc vineyard to get ahead of the usual degenerative trunk diseases, of the paucity of Malbec fruit in vintage 2024, meant we took the decision to use some of our Cabernet Sauvignon for the 2024 version of the BMIT)

Vintage Conditions

The Weather At Bloodwood is always the same; It's Different!

Vintage 2024 is looking better as the months go by. The winter rainfall leading up to the growing season was well below average and along with warmer temperatures, the early growing season was a challenge which we managed with pre-budburst irrigation and good Bloodwood Lawn Mooer weed control. The growing season itself was a warm one with weather up to and including harvest best described as warm and dry with some useful bursts of almost tropical rain in thunderstorms. Warmer than normal nights brought vintage forward to equal the earliest start recorded in vintage 2016. White and red yields were moderate across most varieties although the dry meant Cabernet juice yields were about 30 % down on historical averages. All the whites show remarkable pH/acid balance and generous fruit for such a warm year and the reds picked at moderate alcohols are also full of promise. Outstanding Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Shiraz are early highlights in what is likely the best vintage since the spectacular 2019.

Winemaking

This particular iteration of the Bloodwood BMIT saw the usual whole bunch pressing of what we could salvage from the Malbec and Cabernet Franc vineyard supplemented by some of our SA 125 Cabernet Sauvignon followed by a gentle fermentation to technical dryness. The wine was made along traditional white wine making lines. Following a post ferment clean-up, we allowed around six months fine lees contact to help integrate the palate and allow for a natural Orange winter cold stabilization. After protein stabilisation it was sterile filtered and bottled in late October 2024.

pH 3.22

Acidity 7.56 g/l

Alc/Vol 12.5.0%

2025 Riesling

Vineyard

The grapes for the 2025 Riesling were sourced from the top 20 rows of our Riesling vineyard. This vineyard faces due north on an approximately18 degree slope with the rows approximately South West/North East in orientation on a Scott-Henry trellis system. The trellis is opened towards the top of the slope in a generally southerly direction allowing important late season sunlight to linger on the maturing fruit. The laminated silt-stones, limestone lenses and shale of this vineyard slope allow for very reliable drainage in wetter growing seasons and a generally warmer start to each growing season. This is a very important quality vineyard for us at Bloodwood and we are blessed to have it.

Vintage Conditions

The Weather At Bloodwood is always the same; It's Different!

For once, Winter and Spring rainfall at Bloodwood(492.4) was solid..with useful falls through October and November adding to disease pressure in some local vineyards, particularly for Downy Mildew sensitive varieties like Pinot Noir Chardonnay and Merlot. It seems later varieties were less affected, although you had to have your wits about you as a grape grower. This pressure was compounded in some locations through a brace of late Spring frosts and localized nasty hail storms. However the usual stable, warm and dry Orange late summer and autumn arrived and over the last 10 weeks leading into harvest we only recorded 36mm here at Bloodwood. (Maybe the drought is back?) Surprisingly, even given the downy mildew and hail challenges some vineyards faced, yields across the district were the best since 2019 with moderate yields of good to very good fruit throughout. At this early stage, I think the reds are just shading the whites with outstanding young ferments from Pinot Noir to Cabernet Sauvignon. Expectations are high and delicious right across the tasting bench and we expect very good things from vintage 2025.

Winemaking

The main consideration here was a clean, efficient ferment minimising volatile acidity and extended ferment characters. At 11.5 Be , a pH of 3.06 and a T/A of 6.9g/l there was not much that was needed in the way of wine making. Whole-bunch pressing as the grapes came off the vines, cool settling overnight, racking and warming to help the wild ferment get under way was our straightforward approach. Generally fermented between 14 and 20c over 20 days to stable dryness, the wine looked fruity and delicious from the start. Over recent vintages, I've been trying to work a little more on the mid-palate through extended fine lees contact post-primary fermentation, and this technique helped integrate the generous fruit flavours and juicy acidity of the seamless 2025 Riesling. Following bench trials, protein and cold stabilisation, the wine was sterile filtered and bottled in early October 2025.

Wine Analysis

pH 3.06

Acidity 6.9 g/l

Alc/Vol 11.5 %

2024 Chardonnay

Vineyard

This vineyard is the original Chardonnay vineyard at Bloodwood, and as such is responsible for much of the perception of quality that today surrounds Orange Chardonnay as a style. This vineyards low vigour friable soils are derived from a mixture of laminated siltstones and massive volcaniclastic sandstone, over a deep, free-draining pale substrate on a northerly slope of 15 degrees or so. Rows are arranged East/West on a pretty close planting of 1.2 by 2.2 metres. The vines are from the traditionally reserved P58

Chardonnay clone, and are trellised to a moderately formal VSP trellis system. Because of the low vigour in both the clone and the site, a mixture of cane and spur pruning is used in this vineyard to better balance the vines according to expected seasonal conditions.

Vintage Conditions

The Weather At Bloodwood is always the same; It's Different!

Vintage 2024 is looking better as the months go by. The winter rainfall leading up to the growing season was well below average and along with warmer temperatures, the early growing season was a challenge which we managed with pre-budburst irrigation and good weed control. The growing season itself was a warm one with weather up to and including harvest best described as warm and dry with some useful bursts of almost tropical rain in thunderstorms. Warmer than normal nights brought vintage forward to equal the earliest start recorded in vintage 2016. White and red yields were moderate across most varieties although the dry meant Cabernet juice yields were about 30 % down on historical averages. All the whites show remarkable pH/acid balance and fruit for such a warm year and the reds picked at moderate alcohols are also full of promise. Outstanding Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Shiraz are early highlights in what is likely the best vintage since the outstanding 2019.

Wine making

The initial approach for the Chardonnay is much the same as the Schubert, although the grapes are usually picked slightly earlier. The hand‐picked fruit is whole‐bunch pressed in an air‐bag press to 1.1 atmospheres with the low phenolic juice transferred to an insulated tank for overnight settling and subsequent racking. Some fines are allowed to pass into the racking tank where, under gentle warmth, the juice commences fermentation. After a Brix or so conversion, the newly moving juice is split into 20% well seasoned old oak with the balance fermented to dryness over 14 days in stainless steel. After primary fermentation is completed, both parcels of the wine are sulphured to inhibit malo‐lactic fermentation, stirred and transferred to our cool maturation cellar where the blend spends six months on fine lees. Stirring only occurs if too many reductive notes are seen. The wine is then bench trialled, cold stabilised, protein fined and sterile bottled in October following vintage. Pretty simple approach really with the wine mostly making itself. All I've got to do is avoid stuffing things up.

pH 3.18

Acidity 8.5g/l

Alc/Vol 13.3%

2022 Pinot Noir

Vineyard

The Pinot Noir from Bloodwood is grown on the top 12 rows of the Maurice Vineyard..

Yes we know that’s a bit confusing given that the Maurice is a style of wine which isn’t necessarily tied to a particular plot of ground..but..bear with me. The original few rows planted in 1984 were, and are to be found in the middle of our original Cabernet Sauvignon planting. We were anxious to see how the fruit performed without any special Pinophiliac attention. It did very well, so the next five rows were planted at the very top of the Maurice vineyard block. Both plantings were to MV6 clone, however we now have, in addition, two hundred or so each of clones 777; 114 and 115.adjoining the Maurice vineyard. These vines are all close planted on an easterly slope of 20 degrees in a north/south orientation and Scott‐Henry trellised to open to the western side of the vine.

This gives a bit of added light and warmth to the ripening grapes in cooler years.

Vintage Conditions

The Weather At Bloodwood is always the same; It's Different!

Vintage 2022 reminded us of those we used to experience in the mid eighties and early nineties. It was very cool and late by this centuries standards beginning with Chardonnay on the 16th March and ending with ripe enough Shiraz in late April. Yields were moderate because we pruned for tough ripening conditions and although the acid and pH levels were on the bright side, fruit flavours were lovely. Given the tough conditions, (733 mm during the October to April growing season) it was vital that fungicide programmes were consistently protective to ensure good clean fruit at vintage.

Luckily, we had a run of dry and warm days from 4th of February to the 25th of March only interrupted by a moderate fall in early March which dragged this vintage home in good clean shape here at Bloodwood.

Winemaking

For details of this wine you need look no further than the last entry in the “Styles” section of this site. http://www.bloodwood.biz/styles/63-red.html

Because of the very small quantity (normally no more than 750 litres) produced from the vineyard, we consider ourselves lucky to make two or three barrels of Pinot Noir each vintage. Because of the consistent moisture during the growing season, 2022 provided four 300 litre hogsheads and 150 litres of top-up wine. Even with this bonus volume, there is little room to engage in any fancy wine making or blending with Bloodwood Pinot Noir.

The grapes were de-stemmed, cold soaked and open fermented under natural yeasts with gentle hand plunging. The pressed wine was transferred warm to barrel where it finished malo-lactic conversion, and after 6 months, it was bench-trialled and transferred unfiltered into bottle in October 2022.

Wine Analysis

pH 3.61

Acidity 6.74 g/l

13.5% Al/Vol

Total price would normally be $480

Sprummer Stunner Price is $440 including freight unto your door.