Vintage 2011 starts!

It's on - finally! The 2011 vintage has begun this morning with the picking of our Verdelho block along Chalk Hill Road.

28th February 2011 - Vintage has finally begun at Maxwell Wines with the picking of crisp, ripe Verdelho grapes from 7:30am this morning. We say finally because grape picking has commenced 3 weeks later compared to recent years due to much milder weather conditions and some unseasonal rains a week ago. Fortunately for us, that rain was not enough to cause splitting of the berries on the vines, but it did delay vintage a few days by diluting the sugars in the grapes. So as we type this, all of the Verdelho berries are in the press being gently squeezed to remove the juice from the skins. From here the juice will be settled in tank, allowing unwanted solids to gradually fall to the bottom, which should take 3-4 days. The nice & bright Verdelho juice on top will be racked off the solids, and it is this clean juice that will be seeded with yeast to begin fermentation. Then in about three weeks time (with lots of TLC along the way), the new 2011 Little Demon Verdelho will be in it's infancy, ready for the winemaking team to polish it up in preparation for bottling in a few months time. So lots of work ahead... just wait until all the reds start to come in! And it's only Day 1.....