Decisions, decisions: the life of a winemaker People who make wine are pretty passionate about their job. It’s challenging but very rewarding.
It can be hard work, however, and there are constantly decisions to be made to ensure you are getting the very best out of the grapes and creating wines that the public will love.
It all starts with the vines. I visit every vineyard during the growing season (which in Australia runs from Spring in October through to Autumn in April) so we can talk with the growers about how the grapes are developing and decide when is exactly the right time to harvest to get the optimum levels of sweetness, acid, flavour and tannin.
Once the grapes have been crushed into juice, the fermentation process must be carefully managed. How much yeast should be added, when should the juice be pumped over to aerate it, and exactly how long should the juice stay on the skins to extract the right amount of colour and tannins?
Next comes decisions about maturing the wine. How long should it spend in oak if at all (anything from three to 24 months, depending on wine style) and what sort of barrels should be used? What size barrels? Old or new? American, French or Hungarian oak – or a mixture? Do I want to use lightly or heavily toasted barrels? It takes a trained eye and palate to make the right choice for each new wine.
And finally, we need to select which individual barrels should be blended to create the final wine. This is an exacting – but I have to say enjoyable – process because it is where the creative side of winemaking comes to its conclusion. We try many different options to ensure the right one finds its way into the bottle.
Winemaking is an art, a science and a labour of love, but in the end we are the custodians of nature’s fruit, and it is our job to carry the true flavours of the vineyard into the glass.
— The writer is chief wine maker, Jacob’s Creek.
