Knots Vintage Report 2008
Published: 27/03/2008
Last year saw frost damage at the worst possible time (1st and 2nd budburst) resulted in only 4 buckets of fruit picked from the family Byronsvale vineyard, in Maiden Gully. Sadly there will be no Knots Sheepshank Shiraz 2007 as a result.
However, this vintage looks to make amends with ‘fantastic fruit’ according to winemaker Lindsay Ross, and a good volume of grapes.
Lindsay later added, as the grapes were going in the crusher, that the 2008 crop may even be the best he has seen from the Maiden Gully vineyard (one of the oldest vineyards in the region).
It has been a challenging few weeks with vintage arriving several weeks early thanks to the late summer heatwave we experienced a few weeks ago. A big team gathered on the long weekend to pick the Shiraz on Labour Day Monday.
The following Friday, a smaller team gathered to tackle the remainder of the Shiraz, and the team swelled again last Sunday to finish the job by picking the Cabernet Sauvignon.
Special thanks should go to Pam & Peter Leggo who assist with vintage each year, and often stay on to gather the nets and tackle some of the monotonous physical tasks that follow vintage each year.
So too mention should be made of Deidre Outhred and Ray Pearce, Bendigo artists who assist with vintage each year. They are still hard at it this coming week, picking the Shiraz from the Bridge vineyard in Heathcote.
Pat Andrew retains the title for the best provider of refreshments and pickers’ snacks in the region and David Andrew consistently puts in the longest hours and runs rings around the young ones!
So why the term ‘blue sky winery’ heading this news article? Hopefully the accompanying photos (see link at bottom of this page) will give you some idea. In brief the term reflects the nature of the winery: out in the open, under the sky, relying on minimal equipment and facilities, where successful viticultural practices shine through!
What’s next I hear you say………. as the weather cools down and we head towards the middle of the year, we’ll most certainly see a new vintage release of the Knots range (2008 Rose Lashing Rose; 2007 Carrick Bend Chardonnay; 2004 Larks Head Cabernet Merlot Franc; 2005 Sheepshank Shiraz) and 2005 Bridge Shiraz.