How Mother Nature Dictates Vintages and How We Deal with It
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009
On April 19, Dobbes Family Estate hosted a seminar for the Dundee Hills Passport Tour discussing how wineries tackle challenging vintages. Attendees were given a private tour of the winery followed with a pouring of the 2007 Grande Assemblage Cuvee.
2007 Grande Assemblage Pinot Noir tasting notes
The seminar detailed the tools used to guide grapes from vine to barrel in non-ideal harvest conditions. Guests learned about botrytis, sorting and de-stemming, fermentation control, adjusting sugar and acid levels, and grape press options, all the way to barrel ageing. We had a great group of participants and there was plenty of time for questions and a thorough discussion of the strength of the 2007 vintage. Big thanks to the Dundee Hills Winegrowers Association and our neighboring wineries for organizing an exciting and educational event for the public!
State of the art equipment employs sorting tables before and after a gentle de-stemmer, resulting in only the finest fruit reaching the fermentor.
