Assistant winemaker, Jeanie working out on the basket press.
If you have ever wanted to see what grape harvest involves, now is the time to drop out to Rosnay for a look and a tasting in the winery and cellar door.
It’s all happening at the Rivers Road organic winery, from mechanical to handharvesting and making Freedom and Vin de Garage wines. Rosnay have also welcomed other winemakers making their wines, sent grapes to other wineries as far away as Victoria, and seen other wineries bottling the new Rosnay bubbly.
This year Sam has been grateful for the help from Jeanie as assistant winemaker.
Jeanie shares the same natural winemaking philosophy and joy of small batch, hand made winemaking. She is also making her own wine at Rosnay this year – Genie in a Bottle.
Sam said of the 2025 vintage: “Among other things, last week we pressed a very special, small batch of Cinsault – The Pinot of the South – from our vines next to the cellar door.
“Towards the end of the vintage, we are also hoping to make some more fortified wine, vino cotto and even some bottled grape juice – all using super sweet, lateharvest fruit.”
The grapes kicked off early this year but now that we have had some rain and cool weather, they have slowed down. The Rosnay vintage started with the early harvest of their Classic Sparkling. Both the classic Chardonnay and the Rose will be pressure-tank fermented, and both bottled into sparkling bottles and 200ml Piccolos.
On top of this there is a new “triple blend” white wine (Vermentino-Chardonnay-Semillon) in the works, a small batch of Pet Nat, some Grenache Rose, and a Grenache chilled red wine. Next week they will be picking the classic Freedom Shiraz, then in a week or two, the Carignan and Mourvedre should come on line.
Why not head on out to Rosnay this weekend and experience the buzz of vintage for yourself. For further information on what’s happening at Rosnay, head to www.rosnay.com.au