Vintage is well and truly over but the cycle of a great wine never ends! You might not expect it, but winter is a really busy time of the year for wineries. The reds are busily being put to barrel to mature, whites are getting ready to be bottled (and previous vintages of reds), plus it’s also the time of year our vines get a bit of TLC too. The vines need to be pruned ready for budburst and after a glorious day like today..Spring is just around the corner!

You may think it’s just a matter of getting the hedger out and giving the vines a haircut. It certainly is a lot more complicated than that. Each vine is carefully assessed to its pruning needs and treated differently. Mostly we use a method called spur pruning.

We have about 20 Acres of vines to get through, but I can’t lie, we don’t do it single handed, we bring in some reinforcements to get the job done all in a matter of 4-5 days. Pruning the vines each year helps us to manage the quality and the yield of our crop for the following years harvest, ensuring the vine maintains a healthy balance of fruit so it can mature and develop to its full potential.

This year, our baby Shiraz vines are getting some extra special love after their first crop in Vintage 2016 and are being trained to the wire and tied down. They are looking super strong, youthful and healthy!

Our Cabernet Sauvignon is also getting a kiss and a cuddle, as the vines are now getting on 35 years we are doing some re-work of the cordon arms (where the canes all sprout from) and as such sections of the Cabernet block will soon have the vines cut back at near ground level. We are training up new shoots to grow on the cordon wire which will give us the benefit of the old roots but retain the youthful buds of the young shoots. A win in for all.

Come Spring, the buds will form followed by budburst, flowering and fruit set, and around comes the next crop for Vintage 2017!