ThePresident's blog

Each year at the Shiraz Republic we try to do something that represents a long term investment in the land. The soil; ancient, red, volcanic, Cambrian soil; is what sets Heathcote Shiraz apart. Investing in the soil in a sustainable way is a way of investing in the long term future of the Republic.

We are well into pruning now. The weekend saw us complete 29 of the 64 rows that make up the vineyard. Pruning is a very important part of growing good grapes and there are lots of theories about it. Pruning occurs while the vines are dormant.  Once the leaves have all fallen, usually in early June we start the long process. It generally takes one person one full day to prune one 400m row (approx 200 vines).  This year for the first time we used a mechanical "box pruner" to pre-prune the vines by trimming  off the excess growth.  This has made it easier for our small team of pruners to follow up and do the fine detailing of the each vine. The vines below have been box pruned. Before box pruning the canes were up to and higher than the top wires.

The next stage involves trimming the vines down to approximately 7-8 spurs on each side of the vine.

After two years of weaving our way through the planning and approvals process (we went down some blind alleys!) I am delighted to announce that our Cellar Door is open.
We can now make our wines available to the public.

We were fortunate to have a friend bring his powered aeroshute to the Shiraz Republic on the weekend. I spent about an hour cruising around the district at low altitude and took some nice photos of the district and the vineyard.
In the video you can see the straw being spread along the rows of vines ready to mulch. Hopefull less weeds, better water conservation, more worms and soil bacteria - and better grapes.

It's winter now. The frosts and wind have sent the vines to sleep. Leaves all gone. Time for pruning and maintenance and mulching. Over the next few weeks I'll post some reports on these tasks. Why and how we do them.

Once the leaves have all fallen, one of the easier tasks is to put my merino wether sheep into the vineyard. Wethers are quieter, less likely to roam or cause trouble. The eat the grass and do a much better and cleaner job than I could with a slasher or mower.

Picking is over.
Last deliveries have been made. My apologies to Tim in Sydney, when I came to pack the fruit today, I just wasn't happy with the quality, transit to Melbourne today and overnight to Sydney would not have helped it.
Thanks go to my team of pickers, who worked hard and long to pick grapes to order and understood why we only picked half days at times. I don't like to have grapes alying around waiting for a buyer.

7 rows left. 2 days of picking. Maybe 5-6 tonnes of fruit.
This is the time for the big guns. Big Shiraz, new world, bold. Fruit bomb.
Yes it's 15 Baume' and more, but it's all sound and holding it's structure well.
We'll pick over Wednesday and Thursday and make up all that is not sold on Thursday night. So if, you've been thinking, hesitating, maybe-ing; now is your last chance for Shiraz Republic 2010.

It's the half way point.  34 rows picked, 30 to go.The rains of early March have gone and a week and a half of sunny days and cool evenings has raised the Baume' readings across the vineyard. Tomorrow we'll hand pick one row for delivery and machine pick another 12 rows for our own use. This will almost finish the SA1654 (2004) and start on the First irrigation block with the BOB and SA 1654 (2002).  I say almost because we'll leave 3 rows for an order for a boutique winery that wants a Baume' of 14.5 -15. We'll hand pick that on the weekend.

Well despite the wild weather, harvest has been in full swing. We have managed to dodge the rain and deliver some wonderful grapes all around Melbourne. The mornings have been rain free and have allowed us to put a team in the vineyard to pick.  The increasing ripening of ther grapes has compensated the effects of the rain.