The lead up to harvest 2008 saw our winemakers and vineyard staff extremely excited about both the potential quality of the fruit available as well as the impending early on-set of ripeness, which saw a few of them rushing back to work post Christmas or getting on planes from Bordeaux in order to ensure we were prepared and ready to go.
A small amount of rain at the right time coupled with dry, sunny conditions over the growing season ensured the earliest on set of vintage in the company’s history, with the first white grapes being picked on 15th February. These were closely followed by a steady stream of red grapes over the next five weeks as everything ripened at once and ensured that there was no nice gentle start to proceedings. An unprecedented two week hot spell in early March added to the rush and ensured the winemaking team processed the entire harvest a full month earlier than normal, finishing on the 4th April.
Processing the entire vintage in half the time, coupled with the heat wave ensured 2008 was a challenging vintage for all involved. Our very hand crafted approach both helped us and hindered us. On the downside our commitment to hand picking and double triage whilst crucial in our minds for quality, ensured a slower, more selective rate of processing which in turn meant that were running at full steam to keep ahead of the rapidly ripening fruit. Luckily all the whites, nearly all the Shiraz and some of the Cabernet was in the door before the heat wave struck in earnest and having a vat dedicated to each parcel ensured we did not suffer the same logistical and space pressures as others and were able to give ferments time to be completed. This was vital in dealing with elevated sugar levels, varying degrees of dehydration and low nutrient levels in the fruit and providing the ferments with the love and attention they needed to get through. All the later ripening Grenache and Mourvedre survived the hot spell and a break in the weather allowed a slightly more leisurely pace into the finish line before the winemakers and vineyard teams collapsed in a heap.
Whilst we are certainly not keen to encounter another compressed vintage like 2008 in a hurry, the banding together of our team and growers coupled with the company’s commitment to quality has ensured we have ended up with many parcels of wine that are genuinely of outstanding quality and we are looking forward to charting their development in barrel over the next few months.
Here’s hoping the team’s impending northern hemisphere harvest in Bordeaux and the Napa are not quite as hectic!