Vineyard

vineyard with hot air balloon

picking grapes

budburst

What's happening in the vineyard... a look at Harvest 2010:

It's full steam ahead at the vineyard with the white varieties happily fermenting away in their respective tanks at the winery.  Semillon came off a week earlier than last year, on January 21st, which ended up being one of the hottest days on record for the area, registering 42 degrees at the Vineyard!  An unexpected heatwave for sure, but the vines didn't suffer and the fruit which came off was beautiful.

We hand picked all our fruit and Simon lead the crew through the Sem, hand sorting bunches before they arrived at the winery.  We are lucky to have a vintage worker this year, Blair Gillingham, who came all the way from Canada to help us out.  His cellar experience came in handy during the long day ahead as the bunches were pressed in a Basket Press to ensure maximum juice quality and some tender loving care!

Our Shiraz harvest was a bit different this year, with harvest beginning at midnight to pick through the cool of the night and before the weekend threat of rain.  We might stick with picking during the day next time... two posts, a fruit bin and some of our irrigation bit the dust ... but it was an experience we'll always remember!  The Shiraz showed lovely berry characters right from the press, which should reflect in the 2010 Rose, as well as the upcoming Shiraz Viognier blend in store for release later in the year. 

The Vineyard Story... how it all began.

Semillon - the famed Hunter varietal.

Our humble vineyard began its life with the planting of Semillon in 1963. The block has lived with many names before we settled on the rather boring and unimaginative 'SEM A'. The vineyard was originally planted as 13 acres, however in 2009 we have reduced it down to 5 acres keeping the best 'old vines' fruit for the future.

Learning by bitter experience, Semillon has a real thirst for water during periods of hot weather. Most of the original Semillon block was unirrigated so over the years has suffered terribly during the hot Hunter Valley summers. Not surprisingly the healthiest vines were found in the irrigated sections, so those make up part of the remaining acres, and we have added extra irrigation so all 5 acres receive vital water. The rows are planted following the natural hillside, which lends itself beautifully to a north/south orientation, which gets maximum sunlight exposure to the canopy.

Chardonnay - still Australia's most abundantly planted vine.

In 1986 our 2 Chardonnay blocks -- 'CHD A' at 1.46 acres and 'CHD B' at 3.41 acres -- were planted. Once again they were planted following the contours of the land with the vines facing an east/west orientation. (We suspect that that there may have been a few drinks consumed during the planting as the row spacing varies enormously!) The vineyard is now benefitting from the maturity of the vines by yielding low volumes of highly concentrated fruit which add depth and concentration to our wines.

Shiraz - Australia's red!

The last, but certainly not least, varietal addition to the Molly Morgan vineyard is Shiraz. We have 3 blocks in the vineyard with the first planting in 1986 ('SHZ A' - 2.86 acres), 1992 ('SHZ B' – 1.2 acres) and finally the last ('SHZ C' 5 acres) planted in 1997. All these blocks have been contour planted with an east/west row orientation. The combination of the three vineyard blocks gives us the opportunity to discover just the right balance of fruit characteristics to make our Shiraz and Rosé wines pop.

Riesling - the unsung wallflower.

The vineyard also has a few rows of Riesling destined for a botrytis wine when the year permits. Keep your fingers crossed as we have high hopes!

We are not too proud to admit that we are not experts in all things....

While we run the vineyard on a day to day basis, we do employ some talented individuals to help us achieve our goals. Recently we brought Jenny Bright from 'Bright Vine Services' (contactable on 0410 625 540) on board as our consultant viticulturalist. Jenny’s years of both viticultural and winemaking experience are a welcome addition to our small team.

Bright Vine Services aim to provide regular viticultural advice to its clients in areas such as vineyard establishment, pest and disease management, soil and water management, pruning and trellising, criteria for harvest, cost estimation, record keeping, and budget preparation. Some of this service extends into the area of hands-on vineyard management particularly for absentee owners, such as organising spraying with contractors, operating and applying irrigation, arranging labour for pruning and harvest. We don't know what we'd do without them!