AMORONE - WHISTLER STYLE
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Josh might be busy with vintage at Henschke, but Mel has talked him into making a little wine here in the top shed.
Late last year at a wine tasting, both Mel and Josh came across an amorone style wine made by Hobbs here in the Barossa Valley. This got them thinking ...... "Why don't we try making our own?".
For those of you that are unaware, Amorone is a rich Italian dry red made from partially dried grapes. As you can see from the images, this is a long process that includes hand picking, placing the grapes in racks to dry and constant monitoring before the crush begins. Thank goodnes Martin was around to lend a hand!
Keep your eye on this page to see our progression!
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The hard workers picking the grapes.
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Spreading the grapes over the trays.
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Spraying the grapes with sulphur to protect them during drying.
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BJ keeps an eye on the grapes.
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23rd March
The grapes were crushed last night and photo's will be added shortly. What a mess! We spent 50% of the time cleaning the machine before we crushed, 30% of the time crushing and another 20% of the time cleaning up. Who knew that winemakers needed to be expert cleaners too.....just goes to show how much time and consideration goes into making good wine.
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The grapes drying on the racks.
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Cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning.
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The berries were sorted before being crushed.
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25th March
Now that the grapes have been crushed, the acid levels ajusted and the yeast added, the hard work begins. While fermentation occurs, that is the yeast eats the sugar and turns it into alcohol, it is important for us to pump over three times a day.
In laymens terms.... after crushing, the juice falls to the bottom of the tank and the skins and seeds (know as the cap) rise to the top. Our aim is to make sure the juice keeps the cap wet. Usually with a small amount of wine like ours, this is done by pushing the cap down into the jucie with a plunger.
The problem we had is that drying the grapes meant we had alot of cap and a little jucie, so we pulled out the big guns - the pump!
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| Smiles all round now that we have a pump! | ||
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1 April
All the sugars have been converted into alcohol, thanks to the yeast, and we are ready for the next step. Unfotunately the wine doesn't know that we all have other jobs, so we go together after work to press the wine. (Mind you, we did end up doing alot of eating and drinking while all this was going on, so it wasn't all bad).
With just a small basket press and a broomstick handle, we were able to press and move the wine into tanks to let it settle for a few days.
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| Filling the press. | Look at the pretty purple skins. | Anyone for Jenga?? |
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| The boys start the press. | Everyone takes turns. | Anyone for cake?? |
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| Look at that colour! | We need to get every last bit. | Now to settle in the tank for the night. |
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3 April
We made it. The wine is now sitting in French barrels up in the top shed. From now on it is a matter of patience...Other than a few rack and returns to clear away the sediment, all we do is wait.
The wine looks fantastic. There is great structure and loads of tannins. We'll keep you posted on how the flavour changes during the aging process, but from what we have tasted so far this looks to be a stunning wine.
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