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.

Harvest 2010 - Raupo Creek Pinot Noir

Our first Pinot Noir from 2010 has finished fermentation.

Seresin Assistant Winemaker Carlos Orgiles is looking at our Pinot Noir which came from the top of the hill on our Raupo Creek vineyard.

These were the first grapes we picked, and last week they were the first to finish their natural fermentation. This means that all the sugars have fermented and converted to alcohol.

After fermentation, all our Pinot Noirs stay on their skins for two to three weeks of post-ferment maceration before being pressed to barrel. This allows greater extraction from the skins and gives us darker coloured, more complete, structured wines. It also helps move the fruit profile from being fresh, pure and simple, to a wine with darker, more savoury characters.

Carlos says 'wine is all about balance. The balance of fruit, tannin, colour and alcohol. This extended post-ferment maceration helps to give that balance.'

Clive adds 'this fruit was grown with the view to becoming our Sun & Moon Pinot Noir, and although it's early days, it looks spectacular and likely to make the grade. Only time will tell...'

Harvest 2010 - Raupo Creek Pinot Noir

Having spent almost two weeks in the winery now since picking, it was time to check the progress of our Raupo Creek pinot noir...


Alexis Goodman, Seresin assistant winemaker, is shown here making one of her regular checks of our Pinot Noir.

Each pinot is checked every day - Lindsey will take a sample and check how the temperature and sugar levels are changing, and the winemakers will smell and taste the juice or wine.

As well as this, each pinot noir will be plunged - this gently mixes the fruit and extracts the colour, flavour, and tannin from the grape skins.

This tank of Raupo Creek pinot noir has finished its pre-fermentation cold soak, and has naturally started to ferment.

Harvest 2010 - Raupo Creek Pinot Noir

After a week of warm days we began picking our still wines on Monday. First in was our reserve pinot noir block, picked from the top of the hill in our Raupo Creek Vineyard, and cropped at Grand Cru Burgundy levels.




Each bunch was hand-picked and berries hand selected. Pictured here are some of our vineyard staff doing a berry selection.

Our Viticulturalist, Colin Ross, is enjoying the opportunity to taste grapes from our different Pinot Noir blocks. He says "the taste profile across contours and rows is a truly fascinating thing. The textural expression is so amazingly evident in the Pinot and every dip, hollow and hillock tells a story."

Harvest 2010 - Sampling

With our first grapes now in the winery it is even more important for us to closely monitor the progress of our vineyards as they ripen.

Every morning our Laboratory Intern, Lindsey Sesin, selects different grape samples from our vineyards. Each sample is juiced by hand and tested for sugar and acidity. Our winemaking and viticultural team then spend a lot of time tasting - both the juice and grapes, to make sure that the flavours are perfectly balanced before we pick.

Pictured here is a Pinot Noir Sample from our Raupo Creek Vineyard, which should be ready for harvesting in about seven days.