Pruning

We are currently in our second year’s cycle of management of the vineyard and the vines are halfway through the pruning program. The earlier ripening varieties of Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Sauvignon Blanc are finished and we are halfway through the Chardonnay The older blocks of Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Chardonnay were cane pruned which
was essential to establish new cordons for the fruiting wires. The younger block (Est. 1995) was machine pre pruned and is now halfway through its program of spur pruning. Next year we will am at establishing new cordons in this block. The 2 blocks of Shiraz will be pruned next followed by the Cabernet Franc. The Cab Franc will also require extra work to re-establish new cordons.

Retrellising

Last year we retrellised the Gewurztraminer and Riesling block (Est. 1976) which resulted in very good shoot growth and subsequent fruitfulness for this year. Lets hope it pays off with a good season for these 2 iconic varieties!... We aim to complete another area of Retrellising this year with the 2nd block (Est. 1979) with the Riesling and Cabernet Franc varieties. If the weather is kind we aim to have this finished by the end of August.

In the Winery

The 2008 vintage wines are looking very good and a couple of the whites are in the final stages of preparation for bottling. With Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc first off the line we hope to have them looking good for release in October. The small volume of gewürztraminer will be highly sought after and will be a great return to Chatsfield when it is finally bottled and released later this year. The Chardonnay and Rose wines are also developing some lovely richness and structure with the attention of being stirred and topped every week. These two wine styles will stay in barrel and tank for another 5 months to gain complexity with the aim to bottle them in late December. The Sangiovese, Merlot and Shiraz are currently going through malo-lactic fermentation and are looking quite pungent and a bit out of sorts. This is very normal for wines at this stage of development.