2015 was a great year for Pinot Noir in Orange, NSW.
Grapes were picked between the 8th March and 17th March, with Abel clone being the latest. A mix of 667, 114, 115, MV6 and Abel Pinot Noir clones were placed in 3 picking bins used as fermenters. We hadn’t used these before, and they became a challenge to work with.
Due the low sides and high surface area, we needed to keep putting the fermenters out in the sun to keep them warm. The end of March in Orange is starting to get cool and cold overnight.
After letting the ferments sit for about a week, not touching them, we were walking on a knife edge. For natural winemaking, this is probably the most dangerous time. There is a risk that bad bacteria or an unsavoury yeast can spoil the grapes and ferment at this point. Until a ferment has kicked off, and producing CO2, plenty can go wrong.
So why did we let the grapes just sit there? Well this is natural winemaking, we needed to wait for the wild yeasts to start and this can take a little time. We also don’t mind some natural carbonic maceration and the stems tend to dry out more.
Once there was a little carbonic maceration, we jumped in to do gentle foot stopping. This releases grape juice for the wild yeast to start fermenting.
For 2015 we did twice daily pigeage.
The ferments started slowing down in early April and were pressed on the 7th of April with my old basket press. This was a full day! 3 full loads and it was getting late in the evening, before we finished up.
Wine was racked into 4 French barriques, 1 being new, plus a little into a topping tank. No additions were made.
Malolactic fermentation (MLF) spontaneously started in May 2015, and surprisingly didn’t finished until February 2016. We just let nature do it’s thing.
Wines were racked out of barrel to tank at the end of May 2016 for a total of 13 months in oak.
