Vintage 2020 Updates

Thanks for joining the journey of Mt. Beautiful’s Vintage 2020! In addition to posting content to our social media channels (FacebookTwitterInstagram) we’ll compile vintage updates here listed in chronological order from the oldest posts at the top to the newest posts at the bottom. If you have any questions, please EMAIL US. We’d love to hear from you!

January 21, 2020

Vineyard Update from Fin Grieve, Director of Viticulture:

“The weather has been hot and dry over the last month (35° last Sunday!), which has been very good for flowering and fruit set. We are looking at quite a big crop for this year, especially in the Pinot Noir. We have bunch closure in most varieties, and are approaching bunch closure in the Sauvignon Blanc.

Everything is looking healthy and clean. We have already done our first trim and leaf pluck across the vineyard, and will irrigate most blocks and varieties this week because it has been so dry. Our new Pinot Noir block is growing nicely, and our new Chardonnay block which was planted last month is up and away. We have recently purchased a Pellenc four row sprayer, which gives us the ability to double our area covered in the same time as previously, so that’s a very significant change for us operationally on the vineyard.

At this stage I think we may  have an earlier start to vintage this year than last vintage by about five days. Here’s hoping the weather gods are kind! Recently smoke from the Australian bushfires has been affecting the sky over most parts of New Zealand. Our hearts go out to all those affected, especially our colleagues in the industry and the wineries and vineyards that have either been destroyed or severely damaged.”


(Pictured above is US intern Stephanie who returned for her third vintage with us)

March 18, 2020 

For Vintage 2020 a small handful of interns from all over the globe (France, US, Australia and Greece) have joined our efforts including US intern Stephanie Reynolds who is in her third consecutive vintage with Mt. Beautiful. She also generously supports our social media efforts by sharing videos and photos of vineyard and winery activities when she can find a moment to spare.

Prior to the first pick our winemaking crew enjoyed a vineyard tour lead by our Winemaker Sam Weaver and Winery Manager Jarred Whinham. We also removed vineyard nets from our Pinot Noir by a tractor in preparation for the start of harvest the following day. This (mostly) newly formed team also had the opportunity for a tasting of past and current vintages which was a great way for new team members to become acquainted with Mt. Beautiful’s wines while getting in the harvest spirit.

Pinot Noir grapes on the vine before the start of harvest.

Our Vintage 2020 winemaking crew on a vineyard tour lead by Winemaker Sam Weaver and Winery Manager Jarred Whinham.

As the grapes ripen and become sweeter, they become highly desirable to various vermin, especially birds. We cover portions of our vineyard with netting to mitigate this threat. In 2017 we purchased a machine that covers up to five rows of vines at a time which greatly streamlines our efforts.

Pictured above is a tractor removing netting from the vines in preparation for the first pick of the year!

 


March 19, 2020

Vintage 2020 kicked off! In the short Instagram video below (taken by US intern Stephanie Reynolds IG: @wino805) our Winery Manager Jarred Whinham kicks off the new vintage.

 


We start with Pinot Noir! 

Click the image above to download a PDF of our detailed Vineyard Map. 

Historically we start harvest with our Pinot Noir grapes and this year is no different. Our Pinot Noir was planted when we developed the vineyard in 2004. New plantings have been added since then including one in early 2019.  We now have nine blocks totaling just under 28 hectares (69 acres) across 14 plus different clonal types. Row spacing is @2.0 x 1.0 and we have an average yield of 6 T/ha (2.5 T/ac).

 

 

Pinot Noir Processing Insights:

Amost all our Pinot Noir is hand picked. From there it is transported by tractor in bins across the vineyard to the winery. The bunches are placed onto the vibrating table and across the sorting table where we look to remove underripe fruit, fruit affected by botrytis and raisining. The bunches then travel up a small elevator to the crusher destemmer. Our Pinot Noir is 100% destemmed and non-crushed. Whole berries continue up another elevator to the tank. What we are trying to achieve is softer tannins. We are able to accomplish this by extracting skin tannins instead of seed or stem tannins. Overall we strive for as minimal handling and machine input as possible.


It’s not all grapes during harvest! 

With Mt. Beautiful’s three functional farms ranging in size from roughly 550 ha to 15,000 ha we have a lot going on. Here’s a photo and video of some of our cows at our Spotswood Farm during feeding time.