Off to Chile at 6am tomorrow morning. Every thing in the Tapanappa vineyards is now about watching the “pot boil” and trying not to take too much notice of the weather predictions. Nothing can be done now but wait for the final cinch of ripening when 10% of the season dictates 40% of the quality.
Even the knotty question of “to net or not to net” has been resolved. Foggy Hill on and Tiers off.
The vineyards I will visit this next week in Chile range in climate from cool coastal like the Fleurieu Peninsula at Leyda and San Antonio to the Coonawarra like Pumanque just over the coastal range from Concepcion near the epicentre of last vintage’s earthquake, to the home vineyard at Buin (Alta Jahuel) in the foothills of the Andes east of Santiago with a temperature regime like an inland McLaren Vale.
I am hoping for non shaking vineyards in Chile and after a very interesting week with the very nice people with whom I work, a return to nearly ripe grapes on Foggy Hill and one week to prepare for harvest.
BJC.
Photo: Alta Jahuel Vineyard at Buin
