Dan's Harvest Updates

Vintage 2010 has officially ended

Fri 23 April 2010

Well, it's done. Vintage 2010 has officially ended. We pressed off the last of the Durif yesterday and tidied up this morning. The winery team put on a lunch for the whole staff and tonight it's a big party at a pub in Rutherglen. As I write the sun is setting and I'm thinking about getting ready for the evening. There will be speeches, ridiculous costumes (theme - bad taste) and tall tales of vintage derring-do. I'm guessing I'll probably suffer a hangover tomorrow.

It is a good moment to have a quick think about V2010. There will be time for forensic dissections later, but right now I'm feeling pretty good about it. The weather threw some challenges our way, but we coped well - mainly thanks to some excellent work in the vineyard. The winemaking went remarkably smoothly. We have been using the open fermenters and the old basket press since 2006, so I guess we're getting used to each other now. We were lucky to have a couple of excellent cellar hands this year; Matthieu Lafont from Provence and Ben Gayfer who is a local (and for those ardent Rutherglenophiles - yes he is part of the Gayfer winemaking clan who made those amazing ports decades ago). As usual, my off-sider Ned did stirling work.

It won't be long before all of the wines are put to bed for winter and then we can start thinking about getting the 2009 reds ready for bottling - no rest for the wicked.

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