Picked for the very first time

                                                     Little Buddha...


And I really, really enjoyed it. Even though I managed to be the first "casualty" i.e cutting my finger with the snips. Surely there must be some kind of prize for that?

We were tasked to pick a parcel of Rondo which is a hybrid. Mother: Saperavi Severnyi (which has got a V.Amurensis parent) Father: St. Laurent
It's a fairly full bodied red grape with descent structure. While tasting it I found the skin a bit tough and spicy. Veraison and harvest occurs early with this variety so a type certainly suitable for the English climate.
The most interesting part was to see the state of the vineyard. There were not much grapes to pick due to the fact that birds and wasps had been there already. Apparently they work as a stealth team causing immense damage. The birds pick at grapes and causes the skin to brake, then for the wasps to fly in after and literally suck them dry. A whole new way of shrivelling grapes. Fascinating! See Below.

                                                           

As you can understand it's highly damaging for the crop, but purely as a learning exercise it was amazing. This is how you learn. Anyone can snip of healthy clusters one after the other. But having to literally groom each one, according to how many grapes were healthy, sometimes only snipping a single grape from a cluster and throw the rest away - that's another feat altogether. Very cool indeed.
Unfortunately one guy got stung TWICE, while I'm glad I only got to let out a very girly shreak when realising the grape I thought I held was actually a pretty angry wasp.

Since this batch was particularly small we also picked some random red grapes to go in the blend. To the right you'll find Dornfelder: A grape of German origin. A cross between Helfensteiner and Heroldrebe. Trollinger is a grandparent which might be more recognisable.
In the words of Jamie Goode he was first introduced to this wine being presented as something non red wine drinkers would like. What does that tell you? Yes, it is very bland. Virtually no tannin, not much acid but good colour.

Another very interesting thing to experience was picking Cascade: A french-American hybrid and a little troublesome one at that. It's quite pale and low in acidity. Very susceptible to viruses and buds quite late. I am thinking that perhaps the latter is the reason for why it's clusters took a bit of a beating this year.
Apparently it was a particularly early starting season. But then it got really cold again. Uneven flowering and some fruit not set lead to what you can see below. A very difficult cluster to tidy up. Hopefully the crusher/destemmer managed to do a better job.


I have added a few more photos but would like to apologies for the poor quality.

                                         Dave Perrin - Vineyard Instructor

                                         2nd year student @ Crusher/Destemmer

                                                     Stems etc.

x Charlotte

Sunday Roast

Since being with with my boy(man)friend I've learnt a lot. One of the things being how to cook a fantastically succulent and flavoursome roast chicken. Only from the butchers of course.
It has become a tradition that has more often than not included friends, family or wine trade. More importantly perhaps - it matches and marries a certain range/type of wines.The main star mostly being white or orange, while the supporting actor may be a naturally made red. It all depends on the mood.
This local chicken roast was precious for us for obvious reasons. Being our absolute first bird in our first proper home together. To go with it we grabbed what made sense and what was available from our cave a 2008 Du Arques Haute Vale'e, Limoux:
- 100%Chardonnay. High altitude. All about texture to begin with. Often compared or named the "Mini Mersault". In my humble opinion why compare?!  In reality it's good. Good in the sense that the area expresses purity, honesty and balance. I haven't tried a bad Limoux yet. They just seem to be great at doing it right!

Tasting Notes:
- Subtle structure. Seductiveness, purity and texture. Ever held a Mac (Apple) screen polish napkin? It's silky, velvety and totally reminiscent of the sensation. The cork seemed like the most untouched and cleanest I've ever seen. Seamless.
Peach and pear, some tropical notes, candied lemon; buttercup and white flowers lends to the subtle vanilla'eish lusciousness. All in all the purity is striking. Heavenly indeed.

x Charlotte

Harvest is upon us

The final day of the informative and friendly induction has ended and we are told that next week - is picking week. Yey!
I am very excited as it will be my first time. However this must be classed as quite an early harvest? We have been told to expect a lot of Downy Mildew and some Botrytis, therefor this years batch will be particularly small. Good, but small. We have been told to not stand in the way of (or end up under neath) the tractors, not to snip our fingers off with the help of secateurs; bend our knees instead of our backs and be careful about getting residual chemicals (i.e pesticides and herbicides) left around the vines and on the grapes - on our hands. I suppose in the respect that we may accidentally transfer it to our eyes and in our mouths. I couldn't help but think: "And that's going in the winery. Be made in to wine. For us to later sample?" Enough said.
Well I am here to learn as much as I can about the science behind it all and that includes keeping deceases at bay. In the future when I grow my own vines I can choose how I would like to work with them.

"Impara l'arte e mettila da parte"

(Learn the art then put it aside)

- Italian idiom

Other than that I will need to shop for overalls, steel capped boots, wet ware, lab coat, secateurs and books. I got a load of tasting glasses already. Not ISO's as I do not like them. At all.

I prefer buying the reading essentials as opposed to borrowing. I am sure I will have great use of them in the future. Fortunately I am studying part time which means I can spread the cost over a few years according to how the modules progresses. The first term I have chosen to start study Grapevine Biology next to the WSET Advanced Certificate, which is compulsory. I must say my greatest worry (and I don't think I am the only one) is getting up to speed with the maths and chemistry needed. Apparently it demands quite a quick learning curve. So I would ideally like start study towards that now, even though I won't take those modules until spring.

On a last note I have been given Mr. Chris Foss, the Head of Wine Department, as my personal Tutor and I must say I am very pleased. :)

x Charlotte

Ps. I will take pictures and post here, for those interested.

Enrolment and Induction

The day finally arrived, and a bit of a mad one at that. Let's just say I wouldn't recommend moving house at the same time as commencing an entirely new chapter in your life.
Either way I would like to state that I am hereby officially enrolled at Plumpton College and Brighton University. A day consisting of fairly equal parts queuing, dealing with paperwork, getting friendly with fellow students while sipping the schools finest sparkling; going through the Student Handbook and Syllabus and feeling slightly confused playing the "Tank Game" with The Head of Wine Department - Mr. Chris Foss. Last, but certainly not least, I had to take the the opportunity to hang out with some unruly baby Ferrets and the mostly sleepy (cold?) Wallaby's.

       

So what are my first impressions?

Quite a friendly, helpful and relaxed environment. In the Wine Production, BSc (Hons) and Diploma team the students this year seem to consist of a fairly equal part females and males while the age, on the other hand, are more spread out. Over decades even. The youngest are fresh out of Further Education at 19 - the oldest a few years from retirement. Most people come from successful backgrounds having next to nothing to do with wine, wanting to make a new life for themselves. Very courageous and commendable; and exiting I hope!  Whilst very few, including myself, has previous experience and consider this our first Degree. I am looking forward to seeing how the discussions amongst us students with different backgrounds develope. I gather and hope that we will all learn most from exchanging ideas rather than just taking in the lectures or burry ourselves in our books. 

Kind Eyes

In the Yarra Valley, great single vineyard wines are being made. Mac Forbes, another South Packer, has just recently published a google earth style overview of the area that really supports understanding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rux9B8abEEM

Have you ever heard of Giant Steps? Sure you have.
The owner Phil Sexton started his journey by setting up breweries such as Matilda Bay and Little Creatures. More importantly he was behind Devils Lair in Margaret River before creating the empire above mentioned. Well in this part I am focusing on the Head Winemaker - Mr. Steve Flamstead. The man whom I understand holds the fort within the Yarra developments.
I have had the great pleasure of meeting Steve a few times while he's been in Londontown. By pleasure I mean in the sense that he just doesn't represent a well known brand, with great  single vineyard Chardonnay's and Pinot Noir's that surely shows true terrior - he's just such a likeable person. He always has time for you and to answer questions.
At 22 Flammo started training as a chef in Brisbane. He then did a season in Chamonix (a popular skiing  resort in France) were we both agree a lot of Swedish youths tend to go for fun. Via Spain and working on a boat he ended up as a cellar-rat at Chateau Bluizard, Beaujolais. Were he found out that winemaking was "kinda' like cooking - but with grapes". Back in Aussie he attended the esteemed Roseworthy for three years. Voila!
Here's a little breakdown:
CHARDONNAY
Tarraford (my personal favourite, carefully and intuitively nursed by Greg) = Structured
Sexton = Creamy and seductive
Arthurs Creek = Lean and focused (I could say Chablis style but I won't)
PINOT NOIR
Sexton = Dark cherry
Tarraford = Earthy and perfumed
Gladysdale = Musk and cherries
Applejack = Spicy whole bunch

Steve is in town for the Liberty tastings, so we invited him to our legendary Sunday roast. Were I found out something even more heartwarming about him and his family.
Together He, his wife and three daughters open their home as foster parents for children in dire need of a new family and safety. As I understand it they act as a kind of halfway house while a longterm solution is being found. What if everyone did that? What if everyone cared.

Seems trivial to continue talking about the fine wine we drank. So I'll just share some photo's:

2007 Chassange-Montrachet, Premier Cru "Les Ruchottes", Domaine Ramonet and 2009 Old Vine Chenin Blanc, Boschendal.

Charlotte x

Down with Artful Wine?

Speaking of great producers - Mr. William Downie is in town.
Bill is a renowned fairly natural Pinot winemaker in the Yarra. Part of the infamous South Pack which seems to equal confident, young and male producers of the area. I gather it'd be open to new applicants? I got my eye on snatching the much needed female spot in the not so far future. ;)

Anyhow.

At Terrior, with a few friends, colleagues, above mentioned and the cloudiest wines we could find on the list, we got into a most classical discussion  - is wine art?
What do you think?
What is art?
He was interestingly thoroughly against the idea. William started as a recording technician before embarking on the wine journey. He clearly sees the part of a winemaker equal to the the part of a recorder - you do not create anything you just try your damned hardest to "record" the metamorphosis of grapes turning into wine. In his own words "you must be an idiot to fuck it up"!
I understand what he is saying. I am at heart an emotional explosion in a scrabble factory. I personally feel a great need to express myself, I therefor have a wish that I may find a way to do that through wine. My gosh. That idea was totally squashed by him.
I quickly thought to mention photography as a recognised way of creating art but he had none of it.

Either way William is surely an interesting man. He makes his Pinot under a label that was made by an artful family friend. I visited The Yarra late last year for the first time and one of the things that struck me the most was the fact that his label - a landscape'ish view of the area with rolling hills and that green/blue tint of light - describes it so well. At this point in time he is another guy who oversees but doesn't own the vineyards his grapes come from. But not for long. An area has been planted and is being carefully nursed by Bill and his wife as we speak.
He also tells us he's gotten involved with a very interesting much supported new venture. Stand by.

Charlotte x