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Our First Press!

The extreme heat that we had been experiencing since I arrived has finally pulled out of the Valley. The vines are now enjoying warm, bright, blue-skied days book ended by cool breezy nights: a perfect remedy after suffering from the staggering heat wave. The grapes have begun to recover which presents a perfect opportunity to begin picking. Our first pick commences at dawn and by late morning our vintage crew is anxiously assembled around our quiet crusher and sleepy press. Both man and machine are ready to process the first fruit of Vintage 2014.

Frontignac is an aromatic white grape varietal that I have never worked with before, and admittedly, know little about. I conduct a light Google search and soon realise I know more about Fronti (it’s Aussie nickname) than I think. Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains is the traditional name for the variety, the label which I am more familiar with. Considered one of the oldest grape varietals still being planted, it is believed that the ancient Greeks and Romans had grown and vinified this fruity, aromatic grape. Today, it is a popular varietal grown in Australia under the pseudonym Frontignac-Muscat. It ripens earlier than other varietals which is why it is the first fruit we receive. Its light, fragrant, and tropical characteristics make it an approachable wine which we will eventually turn into a sweet, low alcohol, lightly sparkling Muscato d’Asti style aperitif. Eventually. But for now, it is still fruit in a bin.

The bins are fork lifted in twos and carted to the crusher where they are gradually tipped into a wide and hungry mouth of stainless steel. Whole bunches of Frontignac roll and thump and bounce into the silver hopper. All fifteen tonnes are loaded in, where they are weighed, destemmed, crushed, and pumped into our bladder press. The bladder inside the press slowly expands, pressing the berries against the sides of the press. They gently burst, releasing sticky juice which begins to flow into a catch tray. I hurriedly dig a scoop of dry ice from a cooler and dump it into the juice. The steaming carbon dioxide hovers over the must, a billowing and misty cloak protecting it from oxygen. From here, we pump the must into a fermentation tank where it will sit and chill overnight. Someone swoops a wine glass into the juice and we all take a sip of the sticky thick must. It tastes sweet, juicy, and tropical. We congregate around the press with sticky hands, dirty boots, and exhausted eyes, but we are revelling in our first press of Vintage 2014. After a slow start to harvest, everyone is delighted that we have finally received grapes.

However we are about to receive more than just a shipment of Frontignac-Muscat. During the several hours of focused work processing our first press, we didn’t notice that thick charcoal clouds had followed our delivery truck in that day. The clouds hovered ominously over our fermentation site, and all of the Barossa Valley. Thin streams of rain began to drop down on us, and glassy beads of water curled down the fermentation tanks. By nightfall, what began as an innocuous drizzle turned into a powerful and persistent downpour; a desert rain storm. The subsequent 48 hours twisted into a tense and nervous scene in the Barossa, as every vineyard manager and winemaker watched uneasily as aggressive and unrelenting rain crashed into the vineyards and pounded down onto the Valley.

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