Our winery is bustling with V21 action. Meet just some of the faces of our passionate winery team.
It’s been a busy few weeks. Our winery is slowing filling up with Chardonnay and Pinot fruit, and now Shiraz fruit too. More to come from Vintage 2021 – the end is not yet in sight!
Arguably, one of our most magical sites to pick – Y07. This site produces the pinnacle of our Pinot Noir, responsible for all previous flagship Pinot Noir releases under the Scarlett label.
We consider our Y07 block as holding the deepest and most consistent of soils across all our sites. This allows our Pinot to beautifully handle seasonal stress and develop fruit complexity naturally. As the seasons pass, we’ve understood through the mediums of science and taste, that the flavours on this relatively small block will usually develop differently from top to bottom. This level of understanding, through technology such as EM38 mapping, has informed our picking and fermenting approach – the team harvesting and fermenting top versus bottom separately to capture and isolate those delicate nuances.
True to our process, the block was picked in two instalments – bottom rows first and top rows a week later. All rows were carefully harvested by hand, ensuring systematic sorting as the team went through. Quality is looking excellent as an early first read. The important next steps in the winery, however, will determine whether the fruit from this block will earn its place under the esteemed Scarlett label this vintage.
Our last Scarlett release, from 2017, was met with a stellar reception – receiving a rare 99-point score from James Halliday himself. Watch this space!
Early morning in the Valley, the top of our estate vineyard peeking through the trunks of our centuries-old Elms.
Our team were out early, picking Pinot in our Y21 block while the air was crisp and the grapes cold. The MV6 Pinot grapes you see here will make their way into our adored Village collection. This site was cropping at around 3.5 tonnes to the acre, and our entire team are extremely pleased with the level of quality coming through.
Next up is Pinot from our Springlane vineyard and next week, our beloved Y07 block – home to our Scarlett. Stay tuned Pinot lovers.
Images taken by Darren Rathbone, CEO & Winemaker.
It’s all smiles and flying pick buckets over here. Meet the team at the heart and soul of all the work we carry out in the vineyards — where our quest for great wine begins every year.
Meet Blake, Burnsy, Jimmy, Bucky & Rod – who are all key members of our Vineyard & Viticulture team. We also work with local pickers with years of experience under their belts, who patiently and carefully help us harvest row by row.
Chardonnay galore, about to be whole bunch pressed. Our first hand pick of the season!
Earlier this week, our team took on the revered Y28 Block which produces our Reserve level Chardonnay. A large block, it stands at around 2.5 hectares with a slight fall from top to bottom, encouraging beautiful and progressive flavour development across the site. Its harvest typically spreads over several days, so our many patient hands will be back at work here before the week is through.
Harvest has officially begun here at Yering Station – one of our favourite times of the year. At 4am this morning our team embarked on their first pick, starting with Chardonnay in our namesake vineyard. Using machine harvesters, the fruit from this block is destined for the Chardonnay you know and love under our self-titled collection. Rod (Viticulturist) and Brendan (Winemaker) are thrilled with the fruit quality from this morning’s harvest, which is looking to be super clean and pristine.
Stay tuned as we continue to lift the veil on all the behind the scenes action throughout Vintage 2021.
Meet the team:
Thomas ‘Bucky’ Mullen | Vineyard Manager
Frank, Blake & Burnsy | Vineyard Team operating our machine harvesters
Drew | Cellar Door
CLOSE
