Tasting Notes: 2009 Eden Valley Riesling

KARRA YERTA WINES 2009 EDEN VALLEY RIESLING

PRODUCT: Karra Yerta Wines 2009 Eden Valley Riesling
VINTAGE: 2009
APPELLATION: Eden Valley
VARIETY: Riesling
HARVESTED: March 22nd, 2009
BOTTLED: July 15, 2009
ALCOHOL: 13%
TA: 7.85 g/l
PH: 2.82
PRODUCTION: 128 cases/dozen
CELLARING: drink now to 2016
RRP AU$25

COMMENTS:
This riesling is produced from 80 year-old dry-grown, hand-picked vines. Our fourth release of riesling, the style remains in the vein of the classic riesling that the Eden Valley region is famous for. Screwcap. Samples have been sent of this wine and this page will be updated once the results are known.

Bottling time and the new labels are finally on!

Our 2009 Eden Valley Riesling was bottled on Wednesday July 8th and after a very long wait, with many headaches in between, our revamped labels were printed last Friday so it is all systems go now for our new releases: the 2008 Karra Yerta Eden Valley Riesling and the 2006 Karra Yerta Shiraz Cabernet, and in a month or so, the 2009 Riesling. Already all of the pre-orders have been sent and/or delivered and samples have been sent to some of our regular choices of wine journalists so it will be interesting to hear their thoughts on both the wines and the new look of our products.

Both bottling and labelling wine is an incredibly expensive part of the process of creating your product and there is no room for costly errors so it is always appreciated when you find good businesses to deal with for these very important tasks. In the case of the bottling, we choose Kym Burgemeister - Boutique Bottlers (at Stockwell) as he is simply just so organised and not easily frazzled. Another small family business, Kym is often helped out by his wife Sandra and their children and I know that I can relax once our products are in his hands as they too understand the importance of doing a good job, no matter what size operation they are running.

Our labels on the other hand are produced by a larger company, Barossa Print Masters, who recently had the job of making the labels for Paul Stanley's (of KISS) newly released wine. But in saying that, we deal particularly with one lady from BPM and she is truly a gem: Kym Montgomery.

Kym is an exceptional person to have at your side for any aspect of the business as she is one of the handful of people I have met in the industry who really do go above and beyond to ensure that her clients have the best quality at the best price and as a bonus, she has the knowledge and foresight to completely understand what it is you are trying to create, sometimes even before it is clear in your own head. Simply amazing. As I went to "sign off" for the final time on Friday before the labels were printed, I completely entrusted any last minute decisions to her as I knew she was more than capable of getting me the product I was looking for. I must mention that the boys on the press who made our labels were fabulous also but that was actually the first time I had met them. A great job by all at BPM; thank you sincerely.

It is amazing really to think that even a winery as small as us can have costs of ten thousand dollars a year just on bottling and labelling, let alone wine-making.... Not much profit in it really but again, it does prove that the small guys really are not in it for the money, but for the passion of what we do. So in light of all the Constellation and Fosters press of late, please do consider buying smaller wineries wines (and not only Karra Yerta) as you are supporting the heart and soul of the industry when you support the smaller, family owned businesses, along the whole line from vineyard to labelling and bottling.

Bushgardens and a Biscay Brunch

It has hardly stopped raining for the past four days. Not a heavy rain that washes away precious topsoil in our hilltop vineyard or colourful cottage gardens but a gentle, soaking rain that is ever so slowly soaking into the rock hard ground. And I mean slowly..... Yesterday I went to the Barossa Bushgardens native plant sale and came home with about thirty various native seedlings to plant during the brief dry breaks in the autumn showers. I was amazed that the moisture had only soaked into the ground about two inches deep so digging was not as easy as I thought. Needless to say, there are many still left to plant during the coming week as after planting ten seedlings, opening a bottle of Barossa Shiraz and sitting in the cellar watching the rain seemed like a much more sensible and relaxing way to spend a Sunday afternoon:)

Monday morning started off a little more hectic than how Sunday afternoon ended. The morning showers made it hard to get going but as James was heading off to Biscay Vintners early, I had a few things to do before driving down the hills to the valley to meet him, Pete, Jason and Abel for morning tea (armed with a basket of warm scones, home-made apricot jam and jersey cream). James had pump-overs to do of our red wines. By the time I arrived he had finished so we all stopped for brunch whilst listening to the rain pouring on the winery roof. A really nice way to spend the last part of the morning.

As you can see from the photos here, the red wines are looking great. James is very happy indeed with this years crops and even thinks the flavours are better than last year (which also was a fabulous year for us despite the bizarre weather around vintage). It is all very exciting and so hard to wait for so long til the fruits, literally, are in the bottle. That's what I like about riesling - we can pick it in February and be drinking from the bottle by July. I guess though, that nothing beats an aged shiraz but it is hard to be so patient. James has really worked hard with Pete, Jason and Abel the past few weeks and it is terrific to see all the guys pottering about the shed each doing their own thing yet helping each other when the need be. Truly what small scale Barossa wine-making is all about! That deserves another delivery of home-cooked goodies I think. Perhaps on Friday:)

When the Festival's over....it's back to the vineyard

The past month has gone by so fast. In between my last post and this one we have had the 2009 Barossa Vintage Festival, numerous days of grape-picking and even my first drive around the Barossa in our newest acquisition with friends from the city. The Vintage Festival was a huge success and the weather for the week-long event was truly the Barossa at its beautiful best. The Valley was full of people attending many events. It was great to see everyone still enjoying themselves despite the current economic climate. That was the best thing about the Festival - there were events that were free to attend and ones that were well over $100 per ticket and everything price range in between so there really was something for everyone.

During the Festival a few of James' friends, John and Annette, stayed at Nuriootpa for a couple of days during which I took them on a tour to a few unique places in the Valley in our recently restored classic old Holden. They met some of our Collective counterparts - Steve Kurtz and Wayne Ahrens - for a private tasting, and it was wonderful to finally bring them to our place and sit in the old stable having a few glasses of wine. After a few extra stops we ended up having dinner with them at The Branch in Nuriootpa.

This week has been spent doing part days hand-picking of our Eden Valley Shiraz - a half tonne picked on Monday to pool with grapes from Colin Sheppard (from Flaxman Wines) for a Sparkling Shiraz. On Tuesday we picked our old vine Eden Valley Shiraz (about half a tonne only) for our own BullFrog Flat Shiraz and the last of the young shiraz was picked yesterday for our Red Blend. A very busy week indeed. James has taken leave from his full-time job at ETSA to be active in making our reds and today is picking up some Eden Valley Cabernet which we have sourced from David Brown (Mountadam Winery). In between all of this we have still been visiting Rocland (see the photo below of James and Juicy in front of the tank) to see how our riesling is progressing and so far, so good. All in all, in a few weeks time life should resume some normality and then it will be time to start pruning!

Finally, other news is that we have a new distributor for NSW, ACT and VIC - Single Vineyard Sellers and a new venture about to start in Tasmania so things are quite hectic on the paperwork/despatch side but very positive. I will also be attending a dinner in Brisbane at the end of July with many other Barossa winery representatives hosted by The Purple Palate. I will post more info regarding the Brisbane dinner and our own Barossa At Home dinner as things are confirmed in the coming weeks but for now, on this lovely rainy afternoon, I am heading to the kitchen to make a batch of scones and open a bottle of red which will be consumed watching the AFL match on television later tonight. It's been a huge month and it is certainly time to kick back and relax for a day or two.

Breakfast at Rocland

After a hard day's picking, in the early hours of Monday morning James had a 4.30am start and I was not too far behind at 6.30 am. The grapes were on the trailer and Steve at Rocland Winery was awaiting our two loads to be checked in at the weighbridge. On the way I did an emergency stop at the best place for breakfast in the Barossa - Blonde Coffee - and picked up a toasted cheese, bacon, egg and tomato sandwich and two lattes to go - good sustenance for a morning crush of our riesling. Despite the chill still in the air from a very cold night, it was a very exciting morning to be standing at the weighbridge munching on our breakfast as we received our cartnotes from Steve. After the worry of the possibility of it being a non-vintage (heatwave) we had managed to pick our largest ever Eden Valley Riesling crop - 2.75 tonnes.

I worked at Rocland last vintage as a laboratory assistant and the first thing I noticed this year was that it was much more relaxed. The late and long heatwave of 2008 caused much drama and panic with last year's processing throughout the industry and it was really different to walk into the winery and see the boys (and girls) looking refreshed and happy. Only someone who has worked an eight to ten week stint of twelve hours a day under the incredible pressure of a horror (weather-wise) vintage will understand what I mean.

By the time I had popped around the place to say my hellos to past workmates, James had the bins waiting by the press and Aaron was on the forklift and ready to start unloading them. Juicy (Peter Gajewski) was out and about heading in our general direction and before too long, the bunches were being pressed and the wine glass was out so that we could taste the fruits of our labour for 2009. Delicious! Apples.. that was the most significant thing we could all taste.

By 10am it was all over and James and I went back to our respective jobs for the rest of the day quite happy knowing that the juice was pressed and already in a tank. It really is a terrific feeling to watch your grapes start the process of becoming wine. I can't wait to follow its progress and see how it turns out.

And another load bites the dust....

Today has been a superb autumn day with perfect conditions for harvesting our Eden Valley Riesling. Our crew of ten along with our own family of four (plus dog) had an almost six hour day of hand-picking as the crop was heavier than we expected despite the February heatwave.

We were lucky to have a great crew of German, Belgian and French pickers with a few Aussies and even an Englishman thrown in for good measure! Thanks guys - you did a wonderful job considering it was starting to get a bit warm in the sun by the end of the day. I hope the beer and riesling soothed your aches and pains:) Even the dog is worn out after his effort today. Our teenage sons, Daniel and Matthew, bucket-carried all day and did a fabulous job. The dog, meanwhile, just moved along behind us and basically did nothing of great excitement until right at the end when he got caught in some of the bird-netting laying on the ground. The hazards of being a "watch-dog" ie obviously not watching where he was going!

Presently the grapes are sitting under the shade of our old gum tree, waiting to be delivered to Rocland Wines tomorrow morning to be processed. James and I are going to be there to help and I can't wait to see it as I have never been at the winery for our own "crush" before (James has but I have always been unable to for one reason or another). Anyway, it's a short blog entry tonight but I was keen to post the photos of yet another wonderful day.

The 2009 crush has begun!

Yesterday, Monday 9th March, was our first official day of vintage. In my blog entry of Wednesday 4th March I wrote that it appeared we would be picking our Eden Valley Riesling before the Barossa Shiraz but vintage is an unpredictable thing which changes daily. I was wrong in that assumption. The baume of the riesling was not quite where we wanted it (maybe due to the really cold nights we have been having out here in the hills the past week) so the 2009 Barossa Shiraz was the first to hit the crush.

Despite the horrific heatwave five weeks ago, the shiraz grapes ended up being in great condition which is a huge relief. The fruit tastes superb and the colour is amazing. It may be our best crop of Barossa Shiraz ever. All in all, we picked 1112kg and as I write this blog entry it is in the beginning of its processing at Biscay Road Vintners (run by Pete Schell, Spinifex and Jason Schwarz, Schwarz Wine Company) in Bethany. It is a very exciting time; especially because we have such a talented winemaker as Pete taking charge of things, not to forget Jason's knowledgable input as well.

As James and I both work other jobs as well as run the business and do the majority of the vineyard work, we now find ourselves in a position where there are just not enough hours in the day. James generally tends to the red wines (all are made at Biscay Road Vintners) on a daily basis initially until most of the major work is done and as of next week I assume, I will be trying to have as much input as possible at Rocland Wines in Nuriootpa where our riesling will be processed under the watchful eye of our favourite big guy, Peter Gajewski.

The next month will no doubt be a blur of being here, there and everywhere but it is always well worth it. Let the fun begin!

When it rains..... it's picking time!

After 80 days of not even a drop of rain, a few days ago we were all relieved to see the clouds finally break. Of course, in the back of our minds was the hope that if it was raining here perhaps in a few days time the same clouds would reach Victoria and put at least a little dampness on what remained of the ferocious fires that claimed over 200 lives. According to today's news, that is exactly what happened so there is much to be thankful for.

What the rain also meant was that suddenly there was the threat of split skins on the severely dehydrated grapes that had endured not only the rainless 80 days but also the week or two of horror temperatures hovering around the low to mid -forties (degrees celcius). The poor skins had shrivelled so much that even minimal moisture had them bursting at the seams. On the whole, whilst it is a problem, it is minor compared to many others that vignerons have faced country-wide and we will still produce a 2009 vintage which is more than some.

So tonight as I heard the ute with trailer in tow rattling up the gravel driveway, grape bins strapped to the back, I knew it was only a matter of days before we would be heading up to the high hills to start our grape-picking season. Ironically I thought we would be starting with our Barossa Shiraz from down on the Valley floor but at this stage it appears the Eden Valley Riesling will be the first to "come off". In any event, as always, it will be a huge relief to get the crops off and the wines processed. I will be uploading photos and hopefully videos of this years processing in the coming weeks.