Hawks Nest Wines of NZ

Hawks Nest Wines of NZ

Now that we have our grapes in the shed what happens to them next? The grapes have to be crushed to open the skins to expose the pulp so that the brew can start turning into wine. On the right you can see the mechanical little portable crusher into which the destemed grapes fall before dropping through by gravity into the steel fermenting tanks. Once in the tanks John, our winemaker, inoculates the pot with yeast and heats up the juice containing the skins to start fermentation. On the left you see a shot from above the tank showing the grape mixture containing a big steel warming paddle. Hot water is run through the paddle's tubes to add heat to the brew. (it has been a little cool in our vineyard shed so we need to heat the tanks to get to critical fermentation temperatures to start the chemical reaction and keep fermentation going until the sugar is all used up and the process completed.) John also has some heating blankets that he wraps around the outside of the vats as well to ensure proper fermentation.

I stay out of the actual winemaking process and leave the science and mystery of it all to the experts. We can't tell you too much about what happens in the vats but I can assure you that the results have been and hopefully will continue to produce fine hand crafted wine. For several days the juice and grape pulp are mixed manually every 4 hours to ensure complete and even fermentation-- you could say the process is sort of like stirring a big pot of beans while slowly cooking them. John stands up over the vats and plunges the grapes manually to ensure the proper results. This is the stressful time for the winemaker as he almost has to live in the shed to ensure the proper controlled fermentation process.---not much sleep that week for sure.
Now the rest of us breath a big sigh of relief and wait to taste the newly fermented brew. All that is left to do with the grapes is to remove and store the bird netting and get ready for winter pruning after the grape leaves fall away. Thus now we can concentrate on olive and Asian Persimmon picking in the next few weeks at our busy orchard.

More soon on the progress of our new wine in vats and on the grape pressing process--that is messy but fun. (no we don't have a bunch of young girls stomping the grapes with their bare feet!!!!)
DR. D Downunder