12 Feb Vintage 2022 begins at Kies Family Wines
Vintage 2022 begins at Kies Family Wines
Thursday February 10th marked the beginning of vintage 2022, with the crush of the Hill Block Riesling and half of the Frontignac.
The Baume for the Riesling was 11 and it was picked slightly earlier than last year to retain the nice natural acid. Bronson was extremely happy with the fruit quality this year, but the yields were average. “The fruit came off really clean with no sunburn and no splitting, so i’m really happy,” winemaker Bronson Kies said.
The Frontignac was picked in two sections. Half was picked last night and has been crushed today in readiness for fermentation. It will ultimately become the very popular Heysen Gold Frontignac. “The flavours are awesome. It has that tropical fruit and distinctive lychee character that fans of the Heysen Gold have come to know and love,” Bronson said.
The other half of the Frontignac will be picked later and become the Sparkling Tina Moscato. It is being left on the vine to ripen further, which is necessary to make a sweeter wine.
The Frontignac block had an application of “sunscreen” last week. This sunscreen is a fine white clay mixed with water that is applied to the vines; both leaves and berries to stop the delicate grapes from being burned by the sun.
If burned the grapes will develop sunburn on the skin which will cause a harsh phenolic in the finished wine. Sunburn will also reduce the overall quality of the crop.
As the clay is very fine in nature, any residual clay left on the berries will settle out during the fermentation process, this will not negatively affect the quality. This application of sunscreen protected our Frontignac crop during the heat wave leaving it nice and fresh; the canopy flourishing as we entered the crucial ripening phase.
Stay tuned for more vintage updates, we are very excited about vintage 2022 – can you tell?🍾😜
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