March 2009
Posted: Mar 30, 2009 2:10pm ET
Posted by Stuart Bourne Week 8 down of 2009 vintage at Barossa Valley Estate , and probably only a couple more weeks of picking to see it out to the end. The light at the end of the tunnel is actually not a freight train, but the rapidly approaching date at which the crusher will be closed down, stripped bare, scrubbed with a toothbrush, and put into dust covers for another year! And what do we have to report on, from this magic part of the world we call the Barossa Valley? Easy—wait until you see the picture of our fermented wines.
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Posted: Mar 26, 2009 3:38pm ET
Posted by Ken Forrester Well, we finally got all those fires here in South Africa under control after almost a month of chasing and water-bombing. Our firemen really did a great job against the elements, particularly the winds.
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Posted: Mar 23, 2009 6:30pm ET
Posted by Álvaro Espinoza Hello friends, I am just starting to participate in the blogs about the 2009 Southern Hemisphere harvest. Sorry for the lateness of the first report, but since I'm a consulting winemaker who works in different regions in Chile, it's a very busy time for me, with a lot of travel.
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Posted: Mar 23, 2009 12:40pm ET
Posted by Stuart Bourne Last week I mentioned the peak of vintage at Barossa Valley Estate. Well, this past week was a carbon copy. Bucket loads of lovely ripe grapes, pouring in from the vineyards, all very much picked at their peak.
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Posted: Mar 20, 2009 3:27pm ET
Posted by Santiago Achával That’s the only way to put it: What a week! When I last wrote, Finca Mirador was just bubbling. Finca Bella Vista was almost dry, but still wasn’t telling us how far it would go.
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Posted: Mar 13, 2009 3:49pm ET
Posted by Stuart Bourne If vintage is a parabola (or a bell curve for the non-math geeks among us), then this week sees us sitting right on the top of the curve. What I am trying to convey is that we have really hit our straps this week at Barossa Valley Estate , and it's probably the busiest period of vintage for us, from now and for another two weeks.
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Posted: Mar 11, 2009 3:00pm ET
Posted by Santiago Achával No harvest is ever a repetition. At Achával-Ferrer we have to respond to what Mother Nature gives us. One of the things that we noticed back in December (just after fruit set) was that the stems of our Finca Bella Vista Malbec were unusually red.
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Posted: Mar 9, 2009 3:40pm ET
Posted by Santiago Achával We’re on! On Friday night we were still working on the selection tables. Today we picked our Finca Bella Vista. Some of it will be our 2009 Finca Bella Vista Malbec; some will be part of our Quimera blend, but every block is tasting great! It all started Tuesday morning.
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Posted: Mar 5, 2009 1:04pm ET
Posted by Stuart Bourne Welcome again to another installment of "Life in the Barossa Valley," as seen through the now much blearier eyes of Stuey Bourne and the crew at Barossa Valley Estate. Where do I start? Probably with an update on Chardonnay ferments: Those Chardonnay ferments I referred to a couple of weeks ago are now at a very beautiful stage.
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Posted: Mar 2, 2009 12:58pm ET
Posted by Stuart Bourne Vintage 2009 continues at Barossa Valley Estate , and what a week it has been. The weather was very kind to us this past week, and the red grapes continue to arrive at the winery as we pick the blocks that are ripe and patiently wait for those that will be harvested in the next few weeks.
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