Nikki at RedHeads - last day

Last day – a busy one ... what did I expect!

My last day helping Dan at RedHeads : (

I could tell as soon as I arrived, Dan had big plans for the day. He was buzzing around already. Nice to meet his Dad, Ralph, popped up from Riverina, Dan's home. Ralph is a winemaker too. See if you can spot him in the picture down the page.

Ebb and flow, pattern and rhythm
I've come to understand a few things over the last two weeks. There's a certain pattern and rhythm and logic to everything that goes on in the winery at vintage. Receive (or fetch) the grapes, destem them and get them into vat, plunge and let them ferment in their own good time. Drain the juice, press the rest, get all the batch of wine into tank. Then, for the majority, pump it into barrel. This is, of course, simplified and takes some weeks.

Short on pump capacity, Dan said we'd need to collect the
wine from the basket press in a bucket and carry it to tank
– call these wines handcrafted? You bet!

If you're not careful, you get a blockage ... not enough tanks, need quickly to get onto cleaning the barrels and filling them, to clear some tank space, so you can drain and press.

We were very pleased to have extra hands for cleaning the barrels
and filling them – Mark Hoddy from Bordeaux's Le Chai

Well, today we did it all! Plunging, it's as normal as breathing and coffee in the morning. Clear the cake from the press. Clean some barrels and fill them, six in total today. Two new, as well – a French and an American – to hold the gorgeous Dogs of the Barossa Shiraz. Powerful stuff. As you fill the new barrels, they do give off an awesome toasty, vanilla and oak aroma.

You have to watch the level of the wine rising very carefully as
you fill the barrel ... here, it's Dan busy at the task,
and can you spot Dan's dad behind him?

And I thought, just before I left, I'd empty out another large coffin container. Well, it was my favourite-smelling fermentation vat – the chunky Durif, black-as-your-hat, smelt very dark, chocolaty and spicy. They couldn't keep me out!

Looks small, I can assure you it wasn't.
There's a certain satisfaction in getting it done.
90 minutes roundabout, not bad! Smelt great

I popped out to the Elderton winery (top wine is the world-famous Command) straight after, luckily looking in a mirror first as my face was smeared with wine splashes – a bit of a sight. And no, I didn't bother taking a picture of that!

Hey Dan. It's been a really great two weeks. Thanks for putting up with me. Hope I was more help than hindrance and that the rest of the vintage goes really well. I look forward to tasting the finished wines.

And also that you get a day off soon!

Nikki at RedHeads - what's that falling from sky?

What's that falling from the sky? And more barrels

Foreign stuff falling from the sky
Poured with rain last night – 3.5mm in Williamstown, plenty in Angaston and just 0.8mm in Nuri (Nuriopta). All half an hour's drive apart. That's the hills for you. Most of the grapes are in now so it's no big deal on that front, and it might delay the picking of the Mataro a day or so but otherwise it is just a thankful watering for the rest of the vines that are mighty thirsty. For us, it meant finally, after a few days of wind and cloud, there was a return of clear blue skies. Lovely.

The delicate touch
Dan explained this morning that many of the ferments were just at a delicate stage. Fermentation is beginning to drop away, so less CO2 is being produced, the gas that's been helping to protect the fruit from oxidation. As a consequence I needed to do a 'hand plunge' with most of the vats, bar the newest, just to ensure the cap remained wet.

Two 'happy' barrels, Dan had filled yesterday. Dan got
me to lift the bung and have a listen. He was right, there was
a happy 'zizz' to the wine in barrel, as it continued its gentle ferment

Missed it!
Biggest photo opportunity today was the bearded dragon standing vertical, basking in the new sunshine ... and I missed it! They seem to be 10-a-penny here in Oz or I might have persuaded Dan to stop the Ute. In England, we pay a lot of money to put one of those in a cage!

Barrels – high-pressure cleaning and gently filling
The afternoon's task was learning to pressure clean the barrels, ready for filling with new wine. Six in total. Hearing that if a part came lose of the high-pressure gear, it is likely to cause considerable damage (to your person), I listened hard and treated the machines with respect.

The six barrels we filled with the dark, spicy Malbec. Slight spillage,
but we cleaned that up afterwards

After cleaning them, we needed to fill them – with that luscious Malbec we drained to tank yesterday. A bit more listening and watching hard to learn, then I was left to it. As my 'landlord' Mark, another winemaker, said, it's 90% standing around watching down the bung hole to see each barrel fill, then 10 seconds of fear ... there are about 2 seconds from getting to the right fill in the barrel to get to the pump and switching it off, before a major vinous spill occurs. Then there's a little top up by the jug-full to minimise the ullage at the top of the barrel.

You fill the barrels as high as you dare with
the pump, then do a little top up with
the same wine from the pump-filled jug

 I didn't do too badly. I certainly didn't want to waste any of the gorgeous-smelling Malbec.

Dan was excited by the arrival of two new French oak
barrels. They were delivered by a man with a fetching
beard, a bit longer than Dan's stubble for sure

Nikki at RedHeads - filling the first barrels of 2015

Landmark day – the first 2015 wine goes into barrel and the pressing goes on

It must be a landmark day when the first portion of 2015 vintage wine goes into barrel. The barrel was given a high-blast clean with the pressure washer, then it was filled with rich, dark Barossa Shiraz.

The barrels have a high-pressure shower clean
before they are filled with the new wine

Dan carefully topping up the barrels
so there is minimal air at the top

That was Dan's job, while I was given the task of tweaking the PHs with a little acidity. You'll be glad to know Dan worked out the details; I only had to administer it.

The afternoon was filled with draining off three more ferments of luscious purple Shiraz into tank, then bucketing the pulp into the basket press. It's tricky, when you're short, to reach the bottom. With my head down into tank, I was wondering just how much alcohol you absorb through the fumes coming off the fermented skins. It's heady work!  Dan thought stilts might possibly be helpful and make the task more interesting ... read that as amusing for the spectator!

Getting your head down into the giant open-fermenter tub to fill the bucket, then empty
into the basket press, gets a bit heady ... just how much alcohol do I absorb that way?