This week Andi drove up to Ararat with her steadfast crew (Griffin, our 3 year old and her Mum & Dad) to get the Pip & Ra winemaking season under way. Vintage is almost finished for a lot of areas already but Sangiovese is a grape which ripens a bit later than most so we're playing catch up.
Andi met up with our professional picking crew first thing in the misty morning to hand pick the fruit. Next it was off to the winery to put the frut through the destemmer. This is a fancy machine that pulls the grapes off the stalks without breaking them up too much. We want to have a good portion of the berries intact for the style of fermentation that we're going for. We like to use semi-Carbonic maceration in the wines we make. This is a chemical process which only happens inside whole berries and does not involve any yeast. It helps to produce light-bodied, brightly coloured, elegant and fruity wines, intended for early consumption.
The fruit looks beautiful, and how amazing is that view?!
The wine is going through the final stages of the ferment right now and we'll update you again on the next steps as they happen!
Cheers!
Pip & Ra (Phil & Andi)
