Picking chardonnay
LEGO® Grower finished the Chardonnay hand pick this week. Fruit is clean and flavours are amazing – like burst of intense sunshine in your mouth. It’s good to know that in these rapidly changing times, some things stay the same: the sun keeps shining, grapes keep ripening and wine keeps getting made.
Hand picks are finishing and machine harvesting is in full swing around Marlborough. The rumble of trucks, tractors, and the steady hum of the harvesters is a reassuring background noise - especially at night - that life goes on.
You might be thinking – why hand pick and why machine harvest? LEGO® Grower hand picks his premium fruit: it takes a bit longer, but the berries are treated more gently and bunches give more options for the winemaking team. Basically, the contractors cut off bunches into small bins and they are transported to the winery. Machine harvesting means big areas can be harvested more quickly – harvesters run all day and all night. An over the row harvester goes up and down the rows; the berries are shaken off the vine into a big collection bin, then tipped into the truck, then to the winery. Also, some varieties, like premium pinot and chardonnay are a bit more ‘delicate’, need some care, but sauvignon blanc doesn’t care if it’s bashed around a bit during harvest.
We’re bracing for the sauv-alanche in Marlborough: the avalanche of Sauvignon blanc grapes!.