The Shiraz Republic

On February 5, 2011, when the American critic Robert Parker announced that he would stop covering California wines for his publication The Wine Advocate, it sent shockwaves through the wine industry. This is because for the last thirty years, Robert Parker and his 100-point rating system have dominated the wine industry. Scoring systems seek to rank wines on a scale based upon the wine's color and appearance, aroma and bouquet, flavor and finish, and overall quality level or potential.

Taste is such a personal thing. I know we make good wine, but whenever people drop into the cellar door for a tasting, I know that whatever I or the experts think, some will prefer the 2008 over the 2009 and vice versa. For this and other reasons I must say we haven't bothered with having our wines scored, but I was pleased when Winewise rated our 2010 better than some that advertise 92 Parker points. More about that later, but I came across this little parody of an unnamed Californian winery that may have been making wines just to suit the palate of Robert Parker. Very funny.

Each year when we deliver our grapes, we swap a bottle of wine with those citizens who have made wine previously with our grapes. These are the wines of the Greater Republic. Some are unnamed, some have a name written in texta, some have their own local label of the individual/family/team. Some are under cork, some recycle screw caps, some use new and experimental caps and one uses a crown seal (the old bottle cap).

 Over the next few months we'll open some of these wines and give our opinion. Of course my opinion is just that and nothing more. In the democracy of wine everyone gets a vote.

This vintage saw the first use of the new storage shed which was constructed from October and just finished in time for harvest. The shed is 24m x 9 m with a 24m x 6 m machinery annex. The main shed is fully insulated to keep the finished wine cool and is subdivided to create a large workshop. The shed links to the winery via a concrete pathway to allow easy forklift access. The new arrangements worked brilliantly, with even more applications than I originally thought.

 The new driveway made a great receival area for the grapes, easy unloading, scales ready to weigh the loads and a cool room to store the grapes before loading on the truck or into people's trailers.  We have been able to move all our finished wine into the new shed and catalogue it into years and label. Now that harvest is over we will set up the workshop and move the tractor and equipment under shelter.

By this time most of you who bought grapes will have pressed off you wine or will be in the last stages of ferment.

Last deliveries were made on Monday 19th March.

In total we delivered about 27 tonnes of fruit to 83 good citizens of the republic.

 Eleven families/groups made a day of it, visited the vineyard and picked their own fruit(4.2 tonnes).  Deliveries were made all around Melbourne and grapes were successfully shipped to Sydney and Brisbane. Reg and his partners in wine picked 300kg of grapes in a couple of hours, had a picnic lunch before setting off for home to crush their booty.

In a new development, with our new shed comes not only more space, but new opportunities to expand what is possible in the Shiraz Republic. The Gibson brothers have chosen to make their wine at the vineyard. They have established their own label and as the winery at the vineyard is a registered food premises they can make wine and sell their wine. It is very small for a commercial wine (1.2 tonnes) but it expands out their options.In 2013 we will be able to offer this option to a wider group. Even if you don't want to sell your wines, making your wine in the Shiraz Republic winery can save you the hassle of hiring a crusher/destemmer and a press.

We are again this year supplying first ferment wine to a few people who are not in a position to make the wine themselves.Limited quantities of first ferment wine is available for $4/litre.

The season is ending the way it began - with rain.
In between we've had pretty much perfect weather for picking. The grapes have held up well with Baume's rising steadily. Latest pickings have been around the 14.2 Be. pH levels have risen as is expected with the later pickings, so those of you still to collect your orders over the weekend be prepared to add a little tartaric acid to your ferment.

A week of sunshine after the rain, at least that's the forecast..

I've just tested the Baume' levels and we are back at 13.3 so tomorrow we will start picking again.

If you were coming to collect your grapes last weekend, please contact us to arrange a time between now and the end of the long weekend.

If you were going to pick your own, get your family and friends together and come and make the most of the good weather.

If you are still making up your mind about buying grpaes this season, do it quick, because we don't plan on letting this crop get wet again. We're picking!

The rain appears to have stopped. Another 17mm yesterday and overnight. Light rain fell for most of the day.  We had inspected the ground and the crop on Friday evening and decided that there might be a small window of opportunity early on Saturday morning.

Well it was a small opportunity. I picked 3 boxes for transport to Sydney before the rain and put them into the coolroom to chill them down for their journey. By 9.30am drizzle and light rain set in. Peter and Tracey, local winemakers, who had inspected the crop the night before and had organised a group of friends to help with the picking were after 2 large bins of fruit. Peter is a study in perfection and realism. Peter is a fastidious winemaker, making elegant, fine wines in small quantities, but he also knows how to work with the hand that fate deals us. What to do?  The Baume' was low, but the grapes were ripe.  Sometimes low Baume is associated with under-ripe grapes, but these grapes had ripened to the mid 13s, but had gone backwards with the rain.  Peter was determined to grasp the opportunity and was confident that he could make good Shiraz.  It won't be the Shiraz he may have expected to make at the start of the vintage, it will be lower in alcohol and softer in style, but it will still have good flavours and will be good wine that tells to story of the land and the season.

The forecast for the week ahead is much better, with fine days and temperatures in the mid 20s. This has thrown our picking schedules into chaos. Normally we try to deliver to our home winemakers on Fridays and Saturdays, but we will now have to be dictated to by the need to pick the grapes while they are at their best.

As you will know, we, along with most of Australia are in the middle of some unseasonably wet weather.
On Wednesday night/Thursday morning we had another 48mm of rain. This comes on top of 85mm last Sunday night and 30mm on Monday night. That is a whopping 16cm!!
Needless to say everything is wet. The ground is too wet to drive a tractor over. Roads have been cut with floodwater, tracks and dirt road badly eroded.
The grapes are OK, but the vines have absorbed some of this wetness and pumped it into the grapes, lowering the Baume back to 12.2, the same level it was a couple of weeks ago.
What does this all mean?

• So far, the grapes are doing OK. No botrytis, no rot, no mould. The wind has blown and the sun has poked its head out and dried out the bunches.
• We cannot pick: the grapes are not sweet enough and the ground is too wet.
• Sorry to all of you who were expecting to receive, collect or pick your orders this weekend. We will reschedule once we know what is happening.
• All other planned deliveries will stay as scheduled.

Hang in there everyone. There will be a story to go with your wine this year, but isn’t there always…

Limbo (Latin limbus, edge or boundary, referring to the "edge" of Hell). It's about where we sit at present. Another 48mm of rain overnight.  More to come.
The good news is that as of yesterday the grapes are holding up well. No disease evident. Peter and his crew came down from Tallangatta to pick 700kg. We decided to bring forward a machine pick and harvested about 12 tonnes for ourselves. Baume is hanging around the 13.4 mark.
The weekends orders are in the hands of the weather. We are all "on edge". More later.