Vintage 2022

As the Summer holidays were ending here at Vineyard 28, we were gearing up for Vintage 2022.  This year is a milestone for us, as our very first harvest was 20 years ago in 2002. We only made one wine that year, our very first Cabernet Sauvignon. Vintage 2022 is also the first year we harvested grapes without a dog present. Our Jasper was missed by the whole team, as he would follow us all up and down the vine rows as we harvested and was always ready for the morning tea crumbs at the end of the pick.

Vintage Underway

Vintage 2022 started a little slower than the previous few years and didn’t officially get underway until 4^th February with the harvest of the Muscat Petit a Grain Rouge which makes our Moscato Rosa. Most years this is the grape we harvest first. It was almost 2 weeks later before we harvested grapes again, starting with the Pignoletto on the 16th of February and then over the next 2 weeks it was quite busy with the Arneis, more Muscat, Sauvignon Blanc, Dolcetto (for Freddo), Semillon and on 28^th of February the Fiano, all coming in. February was quite warm, so we were pleased to get the grapes in as early as we could each morning, always starting at sunrise.  Early March saw us head back up to the Wildwater Vineyard to bring in the Dolcetto and Barbera, and then back to Vineyard 28 for the 20^th harvest of Cabernet Sauvignon on the 10^{th of} March.

People often think that once the grapes are harvested the job is done, when in fact it is just beginning. From de-stemming, to spending time on skins, fermentations, pressing, barrel time and filtration; these processes commence the day the grapes are harvested and will continue for many weeks after. The winemaker, Mark will have wines at various stages throughout this time.

Mid-March the weather gods decided to throw us a curve ball with the threat of a large volume of rain courtesy of a cyclone tracking down the west coast of WA. We then started to experience cooler days and nights in  the last few weeks of March and even a little rain, which fortunately didn’t cause us too much grief with either our Montepulciano or Nebbiolo, that were still trying to ripen. It then became a waiting game until the Wildwater Montepulciano was picked on the 5^th of April and we finally closed out the season on the 13^th  of April, just before Easter with the Nebbiolo harvest.

Thank you to our Vintage Crew

A huge thanks to our 2022 harvest crew, the regulars – Bruce, Carol, Julie, Phil and Fran who this year were assisted by some other locals, Vicki, Ken, Kathy, Robyn and Dave. We can’t forget our younger crew, Jake and Seb who worked as cellar hands before university commitments took over their time. We hugely appreciate all of them and their willingness to get up early and come help bring the grapes in.

Overall Vintage 2022 has brought us in some exceptional grapes, a little down in volume on some varieties, but as Bruce said to us, it is one of the best years he’s seen. (He should know since 2022 was his 16^th harvest!) Winemaker Mark is happy with all the wines and is excited to be working on our first production of Montepulciano and Barbera. Watch this space and stay connected  to hear when these wines will be released.

What is this term Vintage ?

The Cambridge dictionary gives us the following definition of “vintage” when it’s used as an adjective;

– a thing of high quality and lasting value, or showing the best and most typical characteristics of a particular type of thing, especially from the past.

and when used to describe wine;

– the wine made in a particular year or a particular year in which wine has been made.

In the wine making world the second definition is pretty close. The vintage is the year in which we harvest the grapes that go into a specific wine. An example is our 2015 Nebbiolo  . We harvested theses grapes on the 27th March 2015. The first definition is also correct in that it also describes the best and most typical characteristics likely to be displayed in a wine. It personifies the weather conditions, the soil and wine making processes that were used that year. All together they combine to become the vintage.

In our world we also use this term vintage to cover a season in our viticultural calendar. Its the time of year we harvest the grapes and starting on the winemaking process. We tend to consider vintage to be complete once the last grapes have been harvested. The winemaking process still continues through until the wine is in bottle.

Harvest Day

Most harvest days we start around 6am, and all our grapes are hand picked into fruit bins. These are collected and transported into the winery, where they are then destemmed and crushed, with the white grapes  being pumped into the press or if it’s a red grape transferred into an open fermenter and left on skins commence fermentation. As all these processes get underway we start to build up a picture of what the resultant wine will be like.

When to pick?

It is a combination of taste, seed ripeness, sugar levels and acid levels that determine when we will pick the grape. Throughout the this time of year Mark can be seen wandering the vineyard early in the morning sampling off the vine, collecting samples of grapes, crushing them, tasting  and testing.

2022 – 20 Years of Making Wine

2022 is a big year for us. It will be the 20th year of Vintage for Vineyard 28. It all began with our 2002  Cabernet Sauvignon. Throughout vintage we will be sharing stories about our 20 years and reflecting on some of the special wines. Stay tuned.