Preparing for Vintage 2022 – Part 1

With summer drawing to a close, soon it will be time for our vines to reward us, as we edge closer to the most thrilling time of year; Harvest. Our teams have a lot to do in the lead up to this, as each have their own crucial part to play in ensuring our grapes are delivered to the winery in the best possible condition, so they can go on to make the best possible wine.

After caring and tending the vines and grapes for the past 12 months, our vineyard and viticultural teams are busy concentrating on keeping the vines in tip-top condition. Primarily, by plucking leaves and trimming the vines to make sure they get enough sun and airflow around the young bunches so that diseases don’t take hold, causing rot. They’re keeping other predators in check too; ensuring the vines have first dibs on nutrients in the soil by removing weeds, and placing netting over the vines to protect them from birds.

More importantly, they’re keeping tabs on the fruit - specifically how much there is, their development and condition – because, knowing how much of each variety we are likely to harvest enables us to prepare the Winery team and allocate resources, more effectively.

Careful water use is always front of our mind, especially at this time of year as the vines are extra thirsty. Consequently, the team is busy monitoring irrigation and looking for leaks in the driplines to ensure no water goes to waste, and using new high-tech probes to constantly monitor the moisture content underground. This helps to make sure our vines have enough water and energy for the grapes to ripen to perfection but, are thirsty enough to deliver the concentration of flavour that Babich wines are famous for.

Finally, in the last stretch towards vintage, we make sure everyone on our team gets the opportunity for some well-earned rest before the mad rush of harvest begins. When the grapes are ready to be harvested, the team needs to be ready too, then, it’ll be over to our winemakers to ensure that what ends up in your glass, is pure bliss!

Tune in next week to hear what the winery team are busy doing in preparation for Vintage 2022…