The GRU Files

Frosty morning in the Adelaide Hills. (Double-click image to get full Arctic blast.)

Winter is a wonderful time of the year. Time to wrap up, eat rich, heavy foods – and to reflect.

I’ve been thinking that it’s now nearly six years that we’ve been applying biodynamic principles in our vineyard and by far the most difficult management issue with this type of farming has been the ‘under-vine’ management.

In conventional farming practices it is normal to simply spray herbicide once or twice a year in the under-vine region to keeps this area tidy, clean and weed-free.

Unfortunately, this immaculate, herbicide-denuded area at the base of the vines is also a desert in terms of biodiversity.  The chronic use of herbicides not only clears out all the undergrowth beneath the vines, but over time, it wipes out all the little beneficial critters, such as earthworms, that dwell in the soil.

When you decide to farm organically or biodynamically, you have to develop other strategies to deal with the undergrowth beneath the vines.  You can regularly till that soil, or destroy the weeds with heat or steam or try to smother them with mulch. Or you can simply let the weeds and herbs and grasses take over. This latter option sounds perfect, but in reality the new growth under the vine can very readily get out of control and adversely compete with the vines that you are cultivating.

Typical spring under-vine overgrowth.

If this new under-vine growth is particularly heavy on water demand, you might even run into a relative ‘drought’ problem with the actual vines struggling to survive. Double-click the adjacent image, which was taken in my vineyard two seasons ago, and you’ll get a clearer image of the potential problem.

I have used various techniques to attempt to control the under-vine growth that include my Italian under-vine mower that slides in and out under the vine, whipper snippers and weeding by hand. None of these tools are perfect and each has their own specific disadvantages.  For two successive seasons, I have also used the services of sheep over the winter period and at last it seems that a combination of all these tools might produce the best results.

Lovely picture of sheep working away in the winter vineyard.

 

And this image shows what a great job they’ve done.

And here is a picture of Bacchus who is exhausted from lying there and watching the sheep. Hope you all have a wonderful winter – Just looking at that first frosty pic, and I was about to wish you a wonderful Christmas!

Today has been G-day. A day that has been a celebration of all things Gruner.

Firstly, we have approved the final blend of the Hahndorf Hill GRU Gruner Veltliner 2012, which we will bottle in one week’s time. This will be our third vintage of this exciting grape variety and putting together the final blend today is no less exciting than the previous times before. This is perhaps because working with a shimmering creature such as GV is always going to be fun and challenging at the same time – such a versatile creature with so many possible options and endpoints.

Today was also the local Adelaide Hills ‘Gruner Grower’s Group’ meeting. Several times a year all the individual growers of Gruner in the Adelaide Hills meet to discuss progress and strategy. Right now we consist of an interesting group of innovative producers who have already produced, or who are about to produce, a Gruner label.
The group includes the following producers:
Hahndorf Hill and K1 Geoff Hardy – both producers have already brought out a Gruner label.
Deviation Road, Longview, Henschke, Mt Bera Vineyard, Nepenthe, The Pawn, Pike & Joyce and Nova Vita – all of whom will be bringing out a Gruner label in the next 1-2 years.
Today at the meeting, we all had the privilege of tasting the K1 Geoff Hardy Gruner Veltliner 2012, which has not yet been bottled. Already it is showing luscious stone fruit, citrus peel and a wonderful mouth feel.

Prager ‘Zwerithaler’ Gruner Veltliner, Smaragd 2007

So what better way to end the day than to break open a bottle of Prager ‘Zwerithaler’ Gruner Veltliner, Smaragd 2007?
Franz Prager, one of the past patriarchs of this noble Weingut which dates back to the 14th century, was jointly responsible for establishing the Codex Wachau, which is a charter established in 1983 in the Wachau wine region of Lower Austria. This charter, which is adhered to by many local producers, is a declaration of determination to produce natural wines under strict conditions of quality control.
The wine is a bright golden yellow. It has a honeyed, candied-orange peel nose with stone fruit and crushed rocket. Full, round and textured on the palate, but retains some marvellous zesty freshness which weaves its way between candied citrus peel, bitter almond and crushed herbs. Ends with a gob smacker of pithy, spicy texture.
Available at East End Cellars, Adelaide.

View overlooking some new Gruner plantings.

It’s all done and dusted! The HHW GRU Gruner Veltliner 2012 is in the tank, dry fermented and blended. Just waiting for the new wine to be stabilized and then we can bottle this year’s exciting  production.

It’s always such a joy to hold up the very first bottle that comes off the bottling line – perhaps because it is the ultimate culmination of hard work and anticipation, all rolled into one pleasurable emotion. What I’m really holding in my hands are those drizzly winter days of pruning; the great excitement in spring when the first new buds are spotted; the tractor that broke down when we were putting up the bird netting; and the tractor that broke down again when we were removing the bird netting. So much squeezed into one bottle!

GRU ’12 is going to be another vibrant vintage with fresh twists of citrus on stone fruit, spice and herbs. But what I perhaps love the most about this variety is its ability to produce wines of such a textural quality. The fresh vibrancy and extraordinary mineral components seem to unite and race alongside the delicate fruit flavours, tugging away at all the senses in your palate. So stimulating and always so refreshing!

Schloss Gobelsburg ‘Gobelsburger Lössterrassen’ Grüner Veltliner 2010.

Gruner tasting:

As a bit of a celebration, I cracked open a bottle of Schloss Gobelsburg ‘Gobelsburger Lössterrassen’ Grüner Veltliner 2010.

Fresh on nose with caramelised orange peel, pine needles and spice. Frisky on the palate with each element of spice, zest and herbs tumbling over the tongue in an extremely pleasing way. Great mouth-feel with appealing balance between zesty freshness and unctuous generosity

This is such an exciting time of the year! All the white grapes – including the Gruner Veltliner – have been harvested, and are quietly fermenting away. Even at this early stage, each new wine is slowly starting to reveal its beautiful secrets and complexities and one can only marvel at the magical transformation that is taking place under the bubbling activity of the fermenting yeasts.

‘GRU’ Gruner Veltliner 2012 is already looking amazing with each of the various fermentations showing different qualities that will add excitement and complexity to the final blend. I just wish I could leap ahead in time and catch a glimpse of what the final GRU ’12 will be like – but patience is the keyword right now and so, for this blog entry, I will divert my attention to that other great Austrian grape variety, Blaufrankisch.

Blaufrankisch vineyard at Hahndorf Hill

The Blaufrankisch vines at Hahndorf Hill were planted 20 years ago and are now producing extremely rewarding wines that compare very favourably to their parent Blaufrankisch vines that are rooted in their native Austria. Hahndorf Hill is the first and currently the only producer of this variety in Australia, although this is due to change in the next few years with significant interest being focussed on this variety in cool-climate wine regions across Australia.

Hahndorf Hill 'Blueblood' Blaufrankisch 2010

It was extremely gratifying to note that James Halliday selected Blaufrankisch as his favourite new variety in his March 7^th  2012, Wine Companion newsletter. He awarded a stunning 95 points to the Hahndorf Hill ‘Blueblood’ Blaufrankisch 2010 together with the following comment:

“The clear colour and highly fragrant bouquet of this highly regarded and widely planted Austrian grape introduces a totally delicious, supple, medium-bodied palate with a Joseph’s coat array of flavours ranging from cedar and tobacco through to a silky red cherry finish.”

Accolades for previous vintages of HHW ‘Blueblood’ Blaufrankisch include:

Trophy / Top of Class / Gold Medal – Australian Boutique Wine Awards 2011

Gold Medal – AWC Vienna International Wine Challenge, Austria 2011

Top 100 Wines, The Advertiser, 2011

Hot 100 Wines, The Adelaide Review, 2011

Trophy / Top of Class / Gold Medal – Australian Boutique Wine Awards 2010

Gold Medal – International Cool Climate Wine Show 2010

The HHW ‘Blueblood’ Blaufrankisch 2010 is due to be released in early April and allocations will be available from the cellar door on a first come, first served basis. For more information about our vibrant wines, please go to http://bit.ly/n9iPAL

Hey GRU don’t make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better

The Germans have a word for it and it’s called an ‘ear-worm.’ It’s a wonderful term to describe the common situation when a certain lyric gets stuck in your head. The above lyric is currently my ‘ear-worm’ de jour. The moment I get amongst the Gruner Veltliner vines it hits and it’ll slosh around my brain for as long as I stay in the vineyard. It is a bit melancholic but, like a good wine, it promises to make things better and that’s exactly what Gruner Veltliner does for me!

Luminescent Gruner Veltliner berries slowly ripening. Click on image to see berry detail.

I just love looking at the luminescent berries, bursting with promise as they slowly ripen towards the final push of harvest. And then it will be time for the miracle of fermentation to weave its sensual magic.

At night I lie awake planning in my head how the GRU 2012 will be. Will it have that citrusy, mineral backbone that enlivens your palate and lifts your spirit? Will it develop a lick of caramelised orange peel that is perfectly offset by a spritz of spicy pepper? Or will it have complex parsnip, tobacco and coriander notes?

All of these dreams and thoughts excite me and keep me up at night – but at the same time, I sadly also reflect upon how relatively few vintages we as individuals have in one lifetime to enjoy. Far too few life seasons available to explore every nook of possibility that each vintage promises – but nonetheless, more than grateful that I’ve already had the privilege of so many!

Bird netting to keep out the greedy feathered friends.

Last image is of the bird netting draping over the precious vines, keeping those oeno-fowls at bay!

For pre-release allocations of GRU 2012 and further information please go to http://bit.ly/ilfxBa

Part of the joy of developing a new vineyard block is to intimately follow the progress of the young plants and to celebrate their different stages of development. I suppose it is very much the same pleasure that a parent gets whilst watching their offspring grow and evolve.

We were fortunate enough to obtain different clonal stock when we originally imported the Gruner Veltliner material into Australia and it is the developmental and growth differences between the various clones that is also very interesting to observe.
For example, one of the clones is clearly more vigorous than the others as judged by the size of its root system and its rate of growth, whilst another clone appears to be more ‘delicate’ and therefore more vulnerable during its early growth stages immediately after planting. It is these differences between the various clones that we will be monitoring over the years in order to make quality decisions in the future.

New plants in seed trays

The first picture is just to give you an idea of how tiny and fragile the plant material was when we planted it out in the vineyard 12 weeks ago, in mid-October. The plantlings arrived in little seed trays and were then carefully transplanted out into the field.

Planted out in the field

Here is a pic shortly after plating in October. Note the amazing mineral quality of the soil with the abundant shale, ironstone and quartz chips. Double click on the image for greater detail.

Welcome to the world little Gruner

This cheerful pic is of a young plant poking its nose over the protective guard 12 weeks after planting and is an example of a particularly vigorous clone that will definitely grow beyond the cordon wire during this first season of growth.

New Gruner plantings

And finally, here is an overview of the recently planted vineyard block. Can’t wait for all the white planting guards to have a friendly tuft of Grunter waving through the top of each guard.

Every year, round about December, I attach my hydraulically operated trimmer machine to my red tractor and buzz around the vineyard giving the vines a bit of a trim. This is called tipping and topping in viticultural terms.

Here are the before and after pics in one of the Gruner blocks.

Before the tipping and topping

After the trim.

The ‘after’ pic does look a lot neater – but this is not the main reason for doing this tipping and topping procedure.

The main purpose is to remove the growing tips of the vines and once this apical growth has been clipped, you trigger a hormonal change in the physiology of the vine. (Hormones that are produced in the growing tips of the canes are abruptly removed.) One of the consequences of this sudden physiological change is the redirection of nutrients from the growing cane and its leaves to the developing fruit lower down on the cane. This is, of course, desirable at this point in time as the immature berries are developing and require much nutrient to fully evolve physically and also to develop a good supply of flavour precursors.

Other reasons for tipping and topping are that some of these growing canes can be very long and they are susceptible to being ripped around by the wind. A trimmed vine canopy has less wind resistance and is therefore more stable in severe weather. In addition, some of these canes can get very long during the growing season and will eventually flop over and shade the fruit zone.  Not only is this undesirable for ripening purposes, but this ‘overhang’ can also restrict air movement and make the vine more susceptible to fungal infections.

For the chemically minded, there are reports that suggest that appropriate trimming will result in a better pH in the fruit at harvest time.

So – there are many good reasons for this summer activity. But the reason that I prefer most is that it does make the vineyard look pretty schmick!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful festive break …. and a fantastic 2012 – for all of us!

We’re pretty spoilt here in the beautiful Adelaide Hills.  Each day is very special for different reasons and different seasons – and there are never any disappointments!

Today I decided to do a pictorial documentation of  ‘a day in the life’ of our Gruner Veltliner vineyard and I think it has turned out pretty good. A good day and some good pics!

Every morning, one of my first tasks is to feed the guinea fowl with wheat grain. I use this to lure them into the vineyard, where their main task is to scrub around all day and eat the nasty bugs such as earwigs and garden weevils. This is very helpful with the biodynamic processes and, of course, helps us avoid ever having to use insecticides on the property.

Here they are enjoying their morning feed of wheat grain – it looks pretty calm in the pic, but it does tend to be a bit of a bun-fight with lots of pushin’ an shovin’ and loud chirping.

Now they have had their feed and they’re off to work.

Here they are getting into their vineyard routine where they will move around as a mob and scratch away at the dirt and peck at anything that looks interesting.

My next task for the day was to mow the undergrowth in the vineyard rows. I tend to allow the grasses and herbs to get a bit out of hand so that by the time I cut them down, they are able to contribute to a thick blanket of hay that is so very good for the vineyard.

Here is a pic of the Gruner Veltliner vineyard before the mowing action. Young Nero is the star of this pic.

And here is the ‘after’ pic. That is, after the undervine mowing machine has passed through and quite a bit of whipper-snipping. Nero looks suitably impressed!

Finally, here is a picture of the newly formed Gruner bunches that will go into the 2012 vintage. They have finished flowering and have started to set.
It is amazing to imagine that this fragile, pretty – almost lacy – early bunch of grapes will, in the next four months, be magically converted to a beautiful, fresh and crystalline glass of GRU.

For pre-release allocations of the 2012 vintage of GRU and also further information, please go to http://bit.ly/ilfxBa

Hahndorf Hill ‘GRU’ Gruner Veltliner 2011

We’re over the moon to discover that our Hahndorf Hill ‘GRU’ Gruner Veltliner 2011 was awarded a place on the prestigious Adelaide Review list of ‘Hot 100 South Australian Wines.’ This cutting-edge wine show has redefined what wine shows are all about. For judging purposes, the wines were not grouped by variety as is the usual format, but rather by style and region. Said wine critic and judge Max Allen: “.. the way this competition was organised was a huge departure from conventional wine shows, and introduced innovations that I think many other competitions should consider adopting.”

I was extremely pleased that our GRU ‘11 had been given its award in the category “Wines that are all about texture.” This is particularly appropriate for this variety and style of wine, which has little to do with a fruity-tooty personality, but rather its charms lie in the extraordinary mouth-feel and textural components that it offers. It’s all about the palate being stimulated by a rollercoaster of fresh mineral components, textural nuances and a spritzy, peppery finish.  In fact, the judges’ comment was that the “Palate texture feels like ice-skating …” Interestingly, this echoes an earlier review of our Gruner Veltliner 2011 by wine critic and writer Philip White, who describes the wine as being like “ … fizzy cool waves on granite …”
I personally like to think it’s like drinking dazzling starlight!

Our joy with the GRU award was doubled when we discovered that the Hahndorf Hill ‘Blueblood’ Blaufrankisch 2009 was also honoured with a spot on the Adelaide Review’s ‘Hot 100’ list.

Baby Gruners ready for planting

Last week was also a huge step forward for Hahndorf Hill, as we planted an additional 1.1 hectares of Gruner Veltliner. This brings our total plantings of this new-wave variety to nearly 3 hectares. As can be seen from the attached picture, it was a pretty challenging exercise because of the tiny size of the plant material. Each little mini-Gruner had to be carefully transferred from seed-tray to soil by gentle and caring fingers and then launched with a good drink of water and prayers to Bacchus to ensure their wellbeing! Hopefully these tiny plantings will survive all the obstacles ahead such as heat, cold, wind and rabbits and by the end of this year will have grown up to the cordon wire.

Completed new Gruner block at Hahndorf Hill