Bindi Harvest No. 25
Bindi Harvest No. 25. The crop is in, long live the crop! In fact, the crop is now a crop no longer but rather has been transformed, by the miracle of native yeast fermentation, into beautiful wine. The 2015 harvest has one similarity to 2014 (stunning wine quality) however there the comparisons end. Where 2014 produced an extraordinarily small yield, 2015 saw the vines return a yield in line with 2010 and 2004 at around five tonnes per hectare (comparing to below two tonnes per hectare in 2014). Following a treacherous year like 2014 the temptation is to accept a very high yield, if that is the season and the vines response, in 2015 however we did considerable shoot thinning in Spring and followed up with a green harvest removal of 15% of the crop in early February. This focus on vine balance saw the stunning crop ripen evenly and the harvest ran between March 25th and April 1st. The fermentations have progressed very evenly, though, as is typical, half the Chardonnay barrels are still fermenting six weeks after harvest! They continue on and some may even ferment for ten months. The Pinot Noirs are resting in barrel with the odd barrel fighting the cold and throwing out a bung as some malo-lactic conversion takes place. All the Pinot barrels Read more …
The only sense of extreme experienced at this point the 2014/15 growing season is that it has been extremely mild.
The only sense of extreme experienced at this point the 2014/15 growing season is that it has been extremely mild. Which in some ways makes it seem odd that harvest across Victoria is running very early however the whole season has tracked that way and, in fact, the lack of extreme heat has seen the vines progress in a very evenhanded way. The flowering in late November and early December occurred during generally lovely stable weather and the lack of heat spikes during the summer has seen the inter-row and paddocks in general maintain a green tinge. Whilst there have been several grass greening rain events along the way overall it has been very dry and a post harvest, strong autumn break would be much appreciated. We expect to commence the harvest on about March 26th and have it completed over the following week or so. This will see us running about a week earlier than is now usual and compares to picking from April 6 to 10 last year. The fruit is in exceptional health and is not far off a perfect crop of around two tonnes per acre (five tonnes per hectare). The flavours have developed very slowly and the mild autumn has seen the acids holding strongly as the sugars build. The temptation is always to pick but the reward will Read more …
How quickly we move from the grey short cold days of winter dormancy…
How quickly we move from the grey short cold days of winter dormancy (for vine, not custodian) to the green lengthening warm days of spring. From the bud burst of mid September to the elongating shoots of October it is our most frantic time in the vineyard. Mowing, cultivating under vine, applying sulphur, fish and seaweed emulsions as well as shoot thinning takes up a lot of time and demands a seven day a week commitment. Add in establishing a new ultra close planted vineyard (finishing planting today) and it seems there’s barely a spare moment to enjoy the splendour of the carpets of greens. But take a moment we do and things are really looking beautiful. The mature plantings are growing very well and we approach the rest of the growing season with much hope, and a little trepidation after several small harvests. Our new planting of Pinot Noir involves four clones (two new to us) and is mostly at a density of 11,300 vines per hectare. A small section is planted to 22,600 vines per hectare. This is very intensive (vines, materials and labour as well as some new equipment required) however we have high hopes for the specific site itself as well as the planning and work going into it. Time, a long time, will tell! The season starts off Read more …
Winter pruning is upon us…
The task of winter pruning is upon us and forecasts of hail and snow are giving cause for digging deep into the winter clothing. Thermals are a must. The last of the 2013s are bottled and we will have news of these wines late in July. Suffice to say that despite the crop being 30% down on ideal yields the quality is exceptionally fine and as the wines settle post bottling they are beginning to sing their sweet tunes once more. The upsetting shortfall in 2013 is given context by the horrendous flowering experienced for the 2014 crop which has seen a reduction in yield in the order of 65%. As Bindi’s dad would say, Crikey! Things move on, regardless. The peas and oats established in the new vineyard sites we are preparing are growing well and will form an enriching ‘green manure’ in the Springtime before we begin our planting. An interesting observation; we planted in 1988 and more in 2001 and will again in 2014. Thirteen year gaps. Nothing unlucky there (maybe the tiny addition in 1992 with Block 5 broke that hoodoo?). The new sites being prepared are all on the same contour as Block 5 and will have a diverse mix of high quality clones planted at very high density (11,500 vines per hectare). Exciting. Until Read more …
Frost. Hail. Cold. Dry. Hot. Fire.
Frost. Hail. Cold. Dry. Hot. Fire. Dear me. The romanticism of grape growing and wine making is being tested continually at every stage of this gruelling season. Yes, of course, we are well versed in the various ways the weather can affect the crop quality and quantity and we are always prepared for some of these challenges to occur during any season. However this season has been quite breathtaking in its audacity to throw down challenges, to both vine and grower, month on month. We press on! We began in September with some unseasonal warm weather which pushed the buds out earlier than usual. Our usual diligent attention to our frost protecting fan saw it serviced by the installer just prior to the first frost of the season. Unfortunately, the fan was rendered useless by a basic servicing error and it failed to run during a -2.7 degree frost event. We are still assessing the extent of the fruit loss, but it was certainly significant. Perhaps even more troubling was the weather in December when the vines began to flower and set their crop. The ideal is calm, warm, even weather. We had windy, cold, erratic weather highlighted, in the most perverse way, by hail. The result has been a poor fruit set. On the positive side, the good rains Read more …
New Bottlings
After a winter that gifted us 14 frosts, plenty of rain and some biting, blustery weather we have broken through into an early Spring break. Whilst the drenching of warmth and the invitation to the birds to bring us musical cheer is lovely the less pleasing aspect is the vines’ buds pushing early and possibly exposing their new flush to damaging springtime frosts. We will see. There is rather a lot of news to do with new bottlings, the evolution of the 2013s in barrel as well as the important work that has begun on preparing four new vineyard sites for planting over the next four years. More about these new vineyards in the next newsletter finalising the 2012 vintage release. Also, though perhaps more exciting for us that work here rather than those buying the wine and interested in less mundane things, we have been doing some much needed works at the winery and sheds. These projects on top of the normal vineyard and winery work are certainly demanding however it’s always very exciting seeing long planned projects begin and evolve. The 2013 wines are still on yeast lees and are evolving well. Like the previous two harvests 2013 was quite reduced from the ‘normal’ crop level but the pleasing aspect of the vintage is the very good depth Read more …
Wines on offer
Wines on Offer We are offering the 2012 Bindi Composition Chardonnay, 2012 Bindi Composition Pinot Noir and 2012 Pyrette Heathcote Shiraz for immediate purchase and delivery. We are also offering the 2012 Bindi Quartz Chardonnay, 2012 Bindi Original Vineyard Pinot Noir and 2012 Bindi Block 5 Pinot Noir as a pre-release offer (with credit card charging and delivery early October 2013). These wines will be released by way of our newsletter at the usual time in mid October however you can reserve your wine now. 2012 Season The 2012 season is considered to be a fine success across Victoria for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Shiraz: at Bindi we hold a sentiment consistent with this view. Overall, the season produced a very small crop of healthy, balanced, expressive fruit. The wines are typical of the vineyard origins and, overall, they are harmonious, elegant, pure and worthy of ageing. The spring of 2011 indicated we were in for a similar season to that that led to the 2011 harvest; rain and humidity and very slow ripening. Things changed, however, and changed again and again. December saw cold, windy weather disrupt the flowering significantly. From late December to late February 2012 we received barely a drop of rain and had eight weeks of contrast to the start of the vines’ season. Then, what Read more …
BILL D.S. DHILLON
BILL D.S. DHILLON 2/10/1937 – 26/1/2013 Bill Dhillon, founder of Gisborne Squash Courts (1972) and Bindi Vineyard (1988), passed on January 26th aged 75. Bill was born in Punjab in northern India in the small farming village Bahman Wala, just to the south of Amritsar. His name was Darshan Singh Dhillon. He would be dubbed ‘Bill’ two decades later at Ballarat Grammar School. He was the youngest of six children. His parents farmed a small holding, just a few acres, which was insufficient to support the family. His father moved to Malaya (now Malaysia) before he was born to establish a plantation of rubber trees and would return every two years to India to see his family. The three youngest children were born two years apart, the timing coinciding with these annual visits, plus nine months. The family’s village is now located alongside the India/Pakistan border and close to a major railway line. During the time of the partition, following the departure of the British in 1947, this area witnessed much violence (estimates number those killed as approximately 500,000) as Hindus and Muslims crossed the border. Bill (aged 10) and his youngest sister were sent away from this violence to live with another family for a year and a half to a safer town, Preet Nagar (Town of Love). In 1950 Read more …
A Spring of sorts is emerging…
A spring of sorts is emerging after a bitterly cold and wet winter. A rather nostalgic three months it has been. If a little confronting, not unwelcome. At this time of year we hold high hopes. Vines pruned and prepared. Old canes mulched back into the soil, new canes layered along the wire ready to shoot their new foliage, ready to set their crop for a harvest seven months away. The journey towards Vintage 2013 begins. Recently Bindi was involved in tastings in Brisbane and Sydney with nine other family vineyard/winery operations, each having more than twenty vintages released. Small vineyards, hands-on wineries, operators working the same terroir into their third, fourth or fifth decades. Several sites were even established over 150 years ago. It was a lot of fun tasting wines going back to the ‘80s. There exist a lot of opportunities in the wine world today. There’s more diversity than ever before for maker, seller and consumer. These tastings and conversations, of families discussing their land, their decades of learning and evolving in the winery, of relationships with customers enjoying the wines for twenty plus years were incredibly rewarding. We were left with the thought ‘we should do it more often!’. So, Melbourne will be next then we’ll revisit it all again in a couple more years. We Read more …
We are having a proper winter!
After a real sumer then a real autumn we are really having a proper winter! Cold, wet and windy in Gisborne was a norm that was disrupted by the decade long drought. This uncomfortable nostalgia is welcome for vine dormancy and soil moisture but makes for robust pruning conditions which ensure we draw upon the the very best thermal wear. With this a few things are certain; the job has to get done and every evening after pruning warmth derived from water, wood, food and wine is enjoyed for its elemental reviving gift. The last of the 2011 wines are now bottled and starting to emerge from their subtle trauma. The wines of this vintage are really evolving beautifully and are such a joy for their seductive aromas and pure, intense, flowing palates. They certainly require another twelve months or so to really begin to show their truest form and will improve for many years onwards.