Due to the heat we have had over the last few months, Cumulus have had a record breaking early start to vintage this year.
Our vintage casuals commenced on the 22nd of January, and we hardly had time to finish the training before we started taking in fruit. We have a mixed bunch of casuals this year, some students doing their first vintage, a couple of people with fairly extensive experience, and some complete wine industry virgins.
Our teams, led by winemakers Debbie Lauritz and Matt Atallah, work at opposite ends of the day to ensure we get all the grapes picked and crushed at the perfect time.
We have finished picking Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Semillon and Riesling with only the Sauvignon Blanc still to come in for the white grapes.
The whites are looking pretty good, we are starting to clean them up post ferment as tank space is at a premium as usual. Lots of racking and lees stirring as we go.
We ran some Chardonnay down into barrels early in the vintage and it is ticking away nicely towards dryness. The recent heavy rain did not cause much damage to our vineyard and has resulted in delayed picking for reds to allow the flavor profile to build up again prior to harvesting. We are picking our first reds this week, starting with Shiraz – we still can’t believe it isn’t even March!