Stay tuned for our next segment in the series on ‘Crushing’

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3.20am Husband lets the dog inside as she is getting in the way of the tractors. This is Saaz’s first vintage, so she is not used to all the machinery yet. Dog settles in and falls asleep on the floor next to the bed.

3.30am Dog fast asleep and snoring so loudly that she is almost drowning out the sound of the tractors and harvesters. Put the pillow over my head.

4.00am Dog still snoring, me still awake.

4.20am The snoring is relentless. Decide to get up and see how the harvesting is going.

5.00am Try to pop back into bed to sleep for a little bit more. Dog is a snoring machine.

Saaz sleeping & snoring……again

6.00am 2 year old awakes with the noise of the harvesters. He is super pumped that there are tractors outside his room, so has put on his rubber boots and is heading out the door. I give up trying to sleep. Dog is still snoring.

6.10am Husband comes inside to eat a quick breakky, I head off to do some exercise.

7.00am Stunning sunrise over the vineyard. The Rayments Block shiraz is looking good, though crops are down. This fruit is heading up to Penfolds at Nuriootpa. Regretting doing push-ups as part of my exercising already.

Sunrise over Rayments Block Shiraz

7.10am Breakfast for 2 year old and 10 year old. Get 10 year old to hurry up, remember her homework, brush her hair, eat her breakfast, brush her teeth……. Shove breakfast into 2 year olds mouth as he tells me about green tractors and ‘harbestas’ and forklifts and trucks.

Koen helping Daddy on the forklift

7.30am Wake dog up. Get dog and children into car. Handpicking starts in the Fiano. Quick visit on the way to the school bus. Taste the machine picked Fiano for Angoves from the night previous as it loads on the truck up to the Riverland. Looking good indeed. Good acids and fresh flavours. Don happy with the way the fruit is coming off, and pumped with the tonnage after last years very light, hail-affected Fiano crop.We have all hands on deck this morning- Margie & Brioni are both on the pick up tractors, along with the rest of our vineyard crew- Don, Aaron, Patrick, Dominic, Graham & Jim.

Brioni is giving the Fiano the thumbs up!

8.00am Drop 10 year old at bus stop and she is off to school.

8.10am Drop 2 year old to day care. The car feels very quiet….until the dog starts snoring again.

8.20am Back to vineyard for Fiano handpicking. Hot and windy in the vineyard.

Handpicking in full swing

10.00am SA Life TV arrive to film the Fiano handpicking for a future story on alternative varietals. Try to look like I haven’t been up all night and try to clean the grape juice and dirt mix off my face. Smile for the camera.

11.00am First load of Fiano leaves for the winery (Yangarra), and I follow it.

11.50am Fiano unloaded at Yangarra and starts tipping into the basket press. We have ended up with 10 tonne. Super excited with the tonnage and how the fruit looks. Maybe this year we wont sell out after a couple of months!!

The Fiano arrives at Yangarra

12.00pm Tasting round of other ferments at Yangarra. Vermentino started its natural ferment and is looking super gingery and has a butter menthol note as well that the whole cellar are talking about. The Cemetery Block Shiraz is half way through ferment and the aromas are jumping out of the glass- black currant, violet, other florals, a spicy note and more black fruits. Tempranillo ferment is also looking good. After a 2 day cold soak, the ferment has started and the blue fruit characters abound. Great tannin structure already.

12.20 Tasting the Fiano juice from the press. In the meantime, organising the next weeks picking plan with Don and the winery. Stressing about the heat, the fact that all the blocks are ripening up at once and trying to ensure we get harvesters/handpickers/fermenters/crushing slots/trucks/tractors and enough sleep for everyone in between. Delicate balance.

Fiano juice splashing into the press tray

4.00pm Pick up 10 year old from the bus. Back out to winery to taste Fiano juice from the press. Heat up dinner to husband as he is about to leave in the truck to head up to the Barossa to deliver the Rayments Block Shiraz to Penfolds.

5.00pm Pick up 2 year old from day care. He is still talking about ‘harbestas’. Back out to winery to taste Fiano juice from the press. Half way through the pressing of the Fiano now- slow process with the basket presses, but wouldn’t have it any other way. 2 year old pestering to sit on the forklifts and climb the scaffolding to the top of the tanks. Do more exercise- this time going up and down to the top of the fermenters with 2 year old…..a number of times.

6.30pm Head home. Defrost home made bolognase, and cook up pasta. Feed kids. Feed dog. Feed chickens. Feed cat. Shower kids. Water the vegetable garden. Pick ripe tomatoes and chilli.

7.00pm Read story to 2 year old. 10 year old reads to me and I check her homework. Kids to sleep. Dog back to sleep.

10.00pm Husband returns from Barossa. Falls into bed. I head out to Yangarra for last press tasting. Excited to get around 5500L of gorgeous Fiano juice. No adds required- acid level at 10g/L- crazy goodness.

11.00pm Home to bed. Husband snoring.

5.00am Husbands alarm goes off and he is off picking again……and the vintage days roll into the next.

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We started on Tuesday with Frontignac (Moscato) and Vermentino. Both came off without a hitch. The Vermentino went straight into the basket press as whole berries, and the juice gently extracted. Vermentino has quite large berries naturally, and the boys in the winery thought it was pretty entertaining to play marbles with them! The juice had notes of lemongrass and ginger- very fragrant. It is now sitting  in tank waiting for the natural yeasts to start the fermentation.

Tipping the Vermentino into the press basket

The press cake after the first press of the Vermentino

The Vermentino juice running out of the slots in the press basket

Vermentino juice running out of the press

Today we picked our first Shiraz for the year. The Cemetery block is often the first block of reds picked, and this year continued on trend. It is so named, as it is the block that surrounds our family crypt- built in 1847 and containing our first generation family pioneers. We were a little worried that crop levels would be very low, but they have turned out to be only just below average at 2t/acre, which is brilliant. The cemetery block was machined picked and then went through the destemmer (removes any stems), berry sorter (removes any raisined berries, leaf, petioles, earwigs or millipedes) and into the open fermenter. I am very happy with the chemistry of the juice (13.8 Baume, 3.5pH, 6.3 TA), pretty close to perfect, and super happy with the flavour in the berries. Looks like it will be an intensely flavoured year, with great tannin structure, and great natural acidities. Excitingly, this is the first block that we have farmed completely organically for 2 years now, so we are looking forward to watching the ferment progress, and seeing if there is a quality improvement as well.

Yummy cemetery Shiraz berries

The cemetery Shiraz berries travelling over the berry sorter

All the stalks coming out of the destemmer

Tipping the cemetery Shiraz into the open fermenter

The first taste of juice from the Shiraz- great colour already

Saturday we are picking our Tempranillo- looking forward to getting this little morsel into the winery.

Then next week goes pretty mental- Four more Shiraz blocks and handpicking the Fiano. Good times….

More from me next week.

Cheers,

Corrina

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We’re very humbled to have our 2010 Oliver’s Taranga Shiraz in his list of ’12 Wines That Define Our Nation’.

Oliver’s Taranga Vineyards 2010 Shiraz – $29
McLaren Vale, SA

NOTHING more Australian than a big generous shiraz and the joy here is there’s no mucking about. It’s good dark plum and blackberry flavoured juice with the right amount of oak and a little smattering of spice and pepper. All the good things that big, sun-shiny shiraz can be. That’s why we love it. 4.5 out of 5.

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Far from its birthplace at our McLaren Vale winery, the Oliver’s Taranga Bearded Bottle has been found across the border in Melbourne, Victoria by (appropriately) dedicated Shiraz drinker and beard grower Harry Spoelstra and his wife Eleri.

“When I opened the case and felt the texture of the beard on the bottle I knew we had hit the jackpot,” says Harry.

By finding the Bearded Bottle Harry and Eleri have won a once-in-a-lifetime McLaren Vale experience, and along with four guests they will be flown to McLaren Vale and treated to 3 days and 2 nights of the best food, wine, and fun that our region has to offer.

“We are going to bring our son, his girlfriend, and our two daughters to share the prize with us,” Eleri said.

Our deepest congratulations to Harry and Eleni, and we can’t wait to host them – and their entourage – and show them the best McLaren Vale has to offer.

Our thanks go to all who participated in the Bearded Bottle campaign, including the thousands who viewed our little silent movie, and we hope that the unlucky entrants are consoled somewhat by the fact that they have some beautiful wine to drink!

About the campaign

The BEARDED BOTTLE was randomly packed into one winning case of Oliver’s Taranga 2010 Shiraz. During the past two months, anyone who bought a case of this wine at cellar door, via mail order, or online went into the running to win a “once in a lifetime” McLaren Vale experience.

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‘Twas the afternoon before Christmas… and we are wondering where 2012 went. We have had a busy time at Oliver’s Taranga and we’re thrilled to have shared so many exciting events and awards with you all.

Christmas time is a great moment to reflect on the past year and focus on family and friends. We thank you for your continued support and look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

McLaren Vale Cellar Door opening hours

The Oliver’s Taranga McLaren Vale Cellar Door is closed for Dec 25th, 26th and January 1st. We would love to see you between 10am and 4pm on any other day… and we look forward to kicking off the new year as doors open at 10am on January 2! Who will be our first visitor for 2013?

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Corrina sent along a snapshot from the Grange/Yattarna Growers Lunch festivities to tease us:

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Oliver’s Taranga make simply stunning wine.

Shiraz is what they’re best known for (I mean, this IS McLaren Vale isn’t it?), particularly their HJ Reserve Shiraz. But there’s some…ahem…other corkers you shouldn’t leave without trying. We adore their mod-European style wines from their Small Batch collection, like Vermentino, Fiano, the new Sagrantino, and the Tempranillo. Their Grenache is pretty out-of-this-world too.

The cellar door is a charmingly restored workers cottage originally built in the 1850′s. And the staff are warm, friendly and helpful. Which is probably one of the many reasons they were recently awarded the 2012 McLaren Vale Cellar Door of the Year.

Our thanks to Jane Thomson and all the Fabulous Ladies of Wine!

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