2024 Vintage Update
2024 Vintage Update
We have reached the mid-point of vintage with the chardonnay and the pinot noir happily finished fermentation and tucked away into a combination of new and seasoned oak barrels for maturation. The wine making staff were especially happy with quality of the juice when the pinot noir was pressed. The pinot noir juice from the MV6 clone was looking particularly impressive with a beautiful depth of flavour and balance.
All the fruit at Squitchy Lane is harvested by hand with teams of agricultural workers organised to pick the fruit as quickly as possible (incidentally the same people will come back in winter to prune the vines). The advantages of picking by hand are:
- Experienced pickers (like we have at Squitchy Lane) only harvest the fruit in pristine condition and leave any fruit that is unripe or damaged.
- Hand picking results in whole bunches heading to the winery, this can be an advantage when producing premium pinot noir.
- Hand-harvesting is a very gentle process that protects the fruit from damage and premature oxidation.
- Hand-harvesting is more sustainable as it uses less fuel and reduces pour carbon footprint.
We are currently waiting for the weather to ripen the merlot, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon. Hopefully with the predicted good warm weather that is coming our way, we should be able to pick the remaining fruit soon. Steve is very hopeful that we will be able to produce a varietal Cabernet Franc this year as the warm weather is proving ideal.
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