Harvest 2010 - Raupo Creek Pinot Noir

After three weeks of post-ferment maceration, Clive decided it was time to press our Pinot Noir from the top of the hill on our Raupo Creek vineyard. This is the Pinot we hope will become our 2010 Sun and Moon.



Through harvest, Clive tastes each Pinot Noir every day until he thinks the wine is nearly ready to be pressed and put into barrels. Then the samples that Lindsey has kept each day are put into a line-up, and the winemaking team will taste the samples. Here some of the line-up is shown - from the earlier samples on the left, through to todays sample on the right. Once Clive thinks the wine has has got the best that post-fermentation maceration has to offer, it is time to press the wines to barrel.


The first step is to drain the free-run wine, which we hold in a small tank until the skins have been pressed. Next is the fun part - digging out the grape skins from the tank. This seems to be the job that everyone in the winery wants to do!

Today Kevin and Lars had the job of digging. Kevin moved to New Zealand from Canada several years ago, and each year spends harvest in the winery, and the rest of the year works in our vineyards. Here the two of them are in the tank digging the skins onto the chute leading into the press.

The pressed juice goes into the tank with the free-run juice and mixed before being transferred into barrels. The grape skins are then taken out to our compost piles to form part of our next compost heap.