Bird is the word

In keeping birds away from our ripening fruit in the vineyard we haven’t used any protective netting for several years.  Instead we employ a multi-faceted campaign, spearheaded by our bird deterrence system.  This works by first creating a perimeter around the vineyard created by a network of four radar towers, which both transmits and receives signals to create the boundary. As the boundary is broken by birds specifically (the system knows the difference!), a range of specific distress signals erupt in a cacophonous symphony.  Also multiple gas guns lay down some heavy aural artillery for good measure. With this more psychological approach to bird deterrence, we begin to train the birds to stay away.  But as mentioned our radar system is only the front line of our defence.  Check out our video to see & hear (sorry about the gas guns!) how this multifaceted approach enables us to see that the last grape is picked and not pecked!

Bird Deter

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To deactivate the border that is obscuring the text, just hover the mouse pointer over the video briefly and then back off again or if you can, play it in full screen mode.

Click here for the suppliers website with more specific info on B.I.R.D.S. (bird intercepting radar deterrence system, not it’s real name, but i like it!)

Testing, Testing…

As our 2012 harvest approaches we began sampling this week to see where were at with sugar levels and the all important relating balance of natural grape acids.  Within our 33 acres under vine, we have 21 separate areas of the vineyard expressed through a combination of our 7 vineyard blocks, 3 varieties (Pinot Noir, Chardonnay & Pinot Grigio), and a total of 10 clones.  These distinct elements will combine to be our ultimate palette for the canvas that will be our 2012 vintage, so it is important we know the status of every area.  The above images outline our sampling process undertaken by our Vineyard and Winery team.  Our ripest reading is unsurprisingly from the top of the hill, with a Baume (a scale that describes sugar via it’s density in a solution) of 10.7, and with adequate ripening weather we gain about 1 Baume a week.  At this rate we might start picking in about two weeks, but it will be staggered as our lowest reading was 7.8 Baume meaning that area will be still four to five weeks away, which is ‘normal’.

With a growing season that has seen earlier development areas across Victoria, whilst in part this true for us also with an earlier budburst, fruit set and veraison, our actual harvest isn’t on track to be the earliest pick.  The reasons for this is that we are one of Australia’s coolest viticultural sites, and our fruit ripens well into the cooling autumn, which slows things down a touch.  But that’s all part of the plan, as we want a graceful finish to the endurance event that will have lasted the vines around 7-8 months from budburst to harvest.  Slower ripening we feel, gains an extra layer of complexity that cannot found in any other way.  With combination of our Lyre Trellis system and that the fact we still have a very active canopy means that we are well placed for this preferred slower finish.  In all of this Nature as always will have the final say. We’d certainly appreciate it if heavy rain, hail, frost and birds (a video on our bird deterrence systems coming shortly) could stay away for another 6 weeks, but these things will take their natural course.  Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted as we head towards harvest!

Curly Flat and Williams Crossing…how do we decide?

Last week we reviewed each and every barrel (as we do every year) from the 2011 vintage to determine the split between our two labels.  Before we explain our barrel classification process, first a little about the two labels. Curly Flat and Williams Crossing have always represented exceptional value in terms of purity in both varietal and site expression relative to their price points.  Both labels are born of the one vineyard and vinified with uniform care and attention but for a myriad of reasons, a barrel may not always reach our exacting standards to make Curly Flat which we feel is structurally complete and built for the long haul in the cellar.  But this shouldn’t lead people to believe our second label is second rate, far from it. Williams Crossing provides for exceptional earlier drinking with clear varietal expression that also offers rewards for medium term cellaring but also serves to advertise our mission statement in a bottle, as the high quality of Williams Crossing conveys our intent to make Curly Flat the finest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay through the lens of our site.

So how do we decide what’s what?  With a panel of at least 4 people (The winery team that consists of Phillip Moraghan, Matt Regan, Ben Kimmorley and then Robert Paul, our independent consultant who provides an external viewpoint) we assess every barrel of the vintage as they approach a year in maturation represented via a 375ml sample and scrutinise it under the conditions of a blind tasting.  Once we have had around two minutes to form our own independent views, the make up of the barrel is revealed i.e:

• Block (Vineyard Location)
• Clone(s) (5 Clones of Pinot Noir & 4 clones of Chardonnay)
• Cooper (Barrel Source) 
• Barrel Age (First, second, third use etc.)
• Forest (Allier, Troncais, Vosges etc.)
• Destemmed or Whole Bunch %
• Trial Work (something we’ve tried differently vs. standard practice)

We then spend around an equal amount of time deliberating the barrels nuances and potential offering to either WX or the CF label.  Once all barrels are classified, the break down of information is then entered into our ever growing database, allowing for the slow revelation of potential trends, further informing us for future decisions.  It will take years for true patterns to appear, not to say we’re looking for a singular formula as that approach is against the ultimate nature of our pursuit, which is allowing each vintage to express itself in the bottle.  For this we feel we already have got the most important element right.  This is the exceptional aspect and soils that make up Curly Flat Vineyard, and our main charge is to unlock its total potential, which will just take time and for that there is no substitute.

2009 Curly Flat Release Dinners

As we all know wine is best enjoyed with great food.  To highlight this fact were holding several dinners over the next few months to showcase the new release 2009 Curly Flat Pinot Noir. We’ll also be showing three older vintages of Pinot (’01, ‘03 & ‘05), which serves as a great opportunity to see the youthful splendor of vibrant fruit and at once, how with age, our wines sublime gracefully into a more complex and rarefied savoury expression of top Pinot Noir.

Bolstering further an already insightful event you’ll also see our current Curly Flat Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Rosé.  Wines that have each been identified as prime examples of varietal or stylistic expression by critics and consumers alike.

Melbourne Dinner @ Sosta Cucina - Wednesday, 29 February 2012  $135p/person

From the heart of Northern Italy to the heart of North Melbourne, Sosta Cucina delivers fine cuisine with warm and familiar service.  Please make bookings through Sosta Cucina on 03 9329 2882.

Sydney Dinner @ Bei Amici  - Sunday, 4 March 2012  $135 p/person

Located in Sydney’s Darling Point, Bei Amici is a boutique Swiss Italian restaurant with a fine range of provincial dishes.  Bookings through Bei Amici on 02 9328 0305.

Harvest Lunch @ Curly Flat - April 2012  Date & Price: TBC

Harvest this year will see a Pinot release lunch in our 1880’s homestead, Vintage Hall. Worth it for the dining experience alone but harvest is also a great time to visit Curly Flat.  Come and see the activity in the winery whilst gaining further insights into our story and our vineyard based approach to wine making.

 

Fruit has set and now veraison begins…

With the new year well under way, the vineyard at Curly Flat is on track with fruit set completed as of mid December.  As of late January, Veraison (where green hard berries begin taking on it’s varietal colour and start accumulating sugars) has begun around 2 to 3 weeks early as have been all the stages from budburst on wards.  Whilst the growing season hasn’t had that many high maximums, more subtly, the minimums are staying relatively high giving consistent momentum to the vines growth.  This coupled with the relatively high humidity and the ever present UV levels may explain this earlier development.  Saying that we are now in a pretty dry spell after only receiving 26mm for January and some warm days with constant wind has resulted in 162mm of evaporation. We’ve seen just about every manifestation of weather, outside of snow (which we did have in mid November 2007!) The biggest factor of course is the weather, and it just wouldn’t be agriculture if we didn’t have a few hairy moments.  Come Christmas Day that’s just what we got!

To the crack of the Christmas bonbon, came the roar of thunder that cut through the  humidity thickened air.   This heralded the storms that then lashed Central Victoria with tornadoes to the north-west of Melbourne and, on a wider scale, devastating hail stones that ranged in size from the humble pea to that of a small fist which hit with a force that punched through windscreens with ease.  As this event unfolded we were pinned to the radar whilst receiving a torrential, almost tropical downpour.  We haplessly looked on hoping the hail didn’t reach us as it would have undoubtedly reduced our potential crop to nothing more than a memory and not to mention damaging the new buds on the green shoots destined to be next years fruiting wood.  That bud damage would also cause downstream damage for Vintages to come.  Thankfully we just got the rain and were spared the hail, but we feel for anyone who was affected by it.

So with still at least 6-7 weeks till harvest, many factors remain to play out that will dictate the ultimate endgame.  We’ll keep you posted with our progress!

A taste of the year to come!

Happy new year to all, thanks for reading our blog and happy drinking for 2012!

This coming February will see the release of our 2009 Curly Flat Pinot Noir and we’re happy to say that this, the last release of the 2009 vintage, is one of our finest to date. Thankfully it’s not just us saying that! Below is an excerpt from Winewise Magazine, a publication established in 1985 and ever since has been driven by a scrupulous array of wine experts led by Lester Jesberg, the magazines editor. This year saw the judges ‘pour’ over 2000 wines from across Australia and abroad in a blind tasting where wines are presented in glass and nothing is known of them outside of variety, which results in telling it like it is.

2009 Curly Flat Pinot Noir Winewise Review                           Verdict: Outstanding

The nose shows rich raspberry fruit complemented by a hint of stems that add a touch of complexity. The palate has power but also finesse, finishing long, and balanced by firm, fine tannins. This pinot was made with a masterly touch.

Also all Australian wines that obtained the rating of ‘outstanding’ (their highest rating) went onto to an even more stringent tasting to find their ‘best of the best’ for 2011. From there only nine wines made that ultimate list and we’re happy to say that our 2009 Pinot Noir is on it!

2010 Pinot Noir out of barrel…

After 20 months in barrel, the 2010 Curly Flat Pinot Noir now moves onto its next phase.  We have now transferred all barrels to tank via our peristaltic pump and the wine will now rest and await bottling early next year.  We do this not only to allow any residual lees to settle out, but it also gives the array of component barrels time to integrate as a whole whilst assisting the wine to acclimatise for closure under screw cap. Then the wine will then be released in early 2013 after a year in bottle.

The wine itself looks very promising so far with swirls of plums and sour cherry skins, resonating in both dark and bright notes with good acidity entwined in an earthen spice twist. Currently poised between subtlety and power, this wine will have plenty of time ahead to unfold itself.  We’re definitely looking forward to that!