Hayes Family Wines - Vintage 2021 Diary - Week 4 - Filling the Winery
Pressing - Ebenezer Shiraz
Week 4
The weather has continued to be mild, very cool nights, nice warm days and we even had a shower, just a bit to freshen up the vines for the month ahead. This week has seen us bring in a few more batches of shiraz, Primrose Vineyard and the first of the Estate Shiraz from block 7.
The grapes are continuing to hang, gathering flavour within minimal sugar accumulation. But the time has come to get the Shiraz in! With good weather forecast for the coming week, we plan to bring in at least 10 blocks of Shiraz, and probably the Fromm Cabernet and the Smart Grenache from Clarendon.
I sampled the Grenache from Ebenezer this morning and based on the flavour in the grapes, they still have a few weeks on the vine. But they do look exceptional like the shiraz. They just need some time.
The Week ahead
The week ahead should see plenty of shiraz from across they Valley, North, South and West. The Eastern blocks in Eden Valley will be another week. We expect close to 90 percent of our shiraz crop to be in the winery by the end of the week. Then our attention will turn to Grenache when vintage will start for Bert, our resident ceramic egg.