Hayes Family Wines - Vintage 2022 - Last of the Red Grapes
2022 Vintage - the Last of the fruit, Hoffmann Shiraz, goes through the Crusher
Vintage 2022 has been a long one
We started with our first grapes in late February, but realistically we started a few weeks prior with preparation, cleaning, waxing the presses, and basically preparing for what was to come.
Fast forward to end of April and we are still going. The last of our grapes, some shiraz from the Hoffmann’s in Ebenezer, was delivered on the 28th of April, a late finish (falling short of the May finish we had in 2017). Realistically we have 3 weeks to go before all the wines are in barrel, and the winery is returned to normal for the cold months ahead. The first of the 2022 wines, the 2022 Schulz Semillon, is booked in for bottling later in March so there’s no rest for Andrew.
Vintage 2022 - The Days and Weeks Ahead?
We currently have about 14 fermenters containing wines at various stages. The newly delivered Hoffmann Shiraz’s are yet to start, the Block 15 from the Schulz’s is ready to go to Barrel.
So for the next 2 weeks, it will be pumping over (where we aerate the wines on skins), loading and unloading the presses and filling a few barrels in between. The Vintage looks highly promising at this early stage, which is great news for our small team and our friends who will enjoy our wines down the track.