OATLEY VINEBLOG
OATLEY VINEBLOG
A month ago we thought we might not pick them at all. But today our unprecedentedly pale but, we hope, interesting Kernling grapes checked in at the winery with a respectable sugar level of 74 Oechsle. Normally they’re a dark pinky-red by the time they get into the 70s. This year they were pink pearls. Or silvery green pearls (see picture of them in the winery hopper below).
A fantastic picking day yesterday, blue-and-gold. Warm enough that the vineyard was quickly festooned with jackets. A smaller than usual picking team for a smaller crop. After two big years the Kernling vines, by contrast with the Madeleine, decided on a duvet year. Our core team of experienced pickers made light work of it, even though they were selecting the ripest only, and it was a tricky business to choose with so little colour change. A whole lot of tasting going on instead. Lots of chat and laughter. And my coffee-time cakes worked again! Though it has to be said they all scoffed Iain’s pizza up first!
All done and loaded by 1.30pm. A small crop and only about two thirds of it picked - rest is for the birds, if it gets sweet enough. Only a bit more than one layer of Farmer John’s 3 ton trailer, about a ton and a quarter. Never a huge cropper, our Kernling, but normally we fill the trailer.
The forecast had been sunny but cold. It turned out lovely and warm but by then we’d taken taken the decision to lay up the meal for 19 in the house and cook a hearty, warming meal. Leek and potato soup, melon with chopped serrano ham in crushed parsley, bouef aux carottes, quince and apple tarte tatin, Somerset cheeses. For once I was organised and got a lot done Saturday so I could go out in the sunshine and see the fun a bit.
Monday morning it was an easy trip to Steve’s winery and the small press this time for us. The juice tasted pretty nice though the acid was still a bit eye-watering at 15 g/l. It wasn’t dropping these last couple of weeks, unlike the Madeleine, which fell sharply in the week before harvest. But Steve will sort that out in the winemaking. Maybe we’ll blend the two? Those decisions will wait till we’ve tasted tank samples of the wines in the new year.
Many thanks to a brilliant team of pickers who made it such a fun day. Now it’s over to Steve and team, and we can have a bit of R&R!. I My turn first. I’m off to NYC tomorrow to watch son Ned run the marathon, leaving Iain to wash up the tubs!
Photos: full set in our gallery HERE>>. Thanks to Howard and Rosie, Phil and John and Linda for theirs. And brief video showing the grapes going to the winery HERE>>
A glorious sunny day on Sunday 25th Oct for the harvest of our later grape, the Kernling.
The grapes were paler than we’ve ever seen them and at one stage we wondered whether they’d ripen at all. But the sugars were a respectable 74 Oe, everyone had a good time and the meal, inside the house this time, was cosy and convivial.
Kernling Harvest
Monday, 26 October 2015
Thanks to Howard and Rosie for this coffee-time photo
Thanks to Phil for this picker’s eye view