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Crush Diary

The quality is great. We have just unloaded our first batch of gorgeous Shannon Vineyard Pinot Noir from cool climate Elgin. The grower of these magnificent globes, James Downes, is a perfectionist. His vines look like they have been trimmed with nail clippers and the cover-crop between the vines looks like it was cut and combed by Bianca, my wife’s hairdresser.

As his truck pulls off the crush pad another two 8 ton truck loads of cool climate Sauvignon Blanc from the southern most wine area, Elim, are pulling in. It is almost 10pm and that’s a lot of small yellow lug boxes to shift onto pallets and into the cold room. It’s going to be a long night, but the Reggae is blasting in the cellar and the coffee machine is cranking out the wakey-wakey juice.

The trucks are late. One blew out the front right tire flying down Sir Lowry’s Pass. Trust me; you never want to have to change a front tire on a fully laden 8 ton truck. The other one blew a gasket over the mountain in the Overberg. We were forced to re-packed all of the 740 crates onto a replacement truck at the side of the road, in the failing light.

In the winery, we ruptured a wine hose sending a fountain of Pinot Blanc juice10 metres into the air. Yesterday we punctured the bag in the press and bent the stainless steel pump feeder-screw. But this is normal; in fact it’s better than normal. Vintage is designed to bleed the romance out of winemaking, to buff your nerves and to probe your perseverance. Besides it shouldn’t be easy to craft great wine. If it was, everyone would be doing it.

Logistically, the power outages have added a forth dimension to everyone’s planning. Winemakers have simultaneously to consider a myriad of very different winery operations 24 hours a day. Perhaps this is why women often make more complete winemakers than men. And when you have to factor in the availability of power, as well, the schedule gets hectic. You don’t want to fill the press with 7 tons of perfect Chardonnay grapes if the power shuts off and you can’t pump away the juice.

There’s no doubt that 2006 is both the best quality and the most exciting vintage I’ve ever experienced.