A great time to start a blog at Hemera Estate
4th February 2016
What a great time to start a blog at Hemera Estate. We are well into harvest for 2016 and so there are plenty of things happening to update you on.
We picked most of our whites last week with the Chardonnay in two lots (one early for sparkling and one for table wine), the Semillon and a third of our Riesling coming in. We also picked the first crop from our brand new, fresh as a daisy Marsanne block! Across the board the quality on these whites is excellent with crisp fresh flavours, balanced sugar levels that will ensure elegant, lower alcohol wines and great character. Most are all now fermenting away and being kept nice and cool by our lovely cooling system which I have to be nice to – it’s been a bit temperamental recently!
After the whites came in we did have a bit of rain which was much needed for the remaining reds and has re-invigorated the vines and kept our sugar levels balanced while we sit and wait for the wonderful flavours to fully develop. I think we will be picking Tempranillo next week with some Shiraz likely to start coming in towards the end of the week. And that’s when you know vintage has really started, lots of hard work making red wines from then on!
Until next time…
Cheers, Alex MacClelland
Winemaker
