At Plantagenet, we are blessed with some very exciting sites that offer a large array of flavours and qualities. Having just completed the 2009 vintage, we can see that when sugars accumulate slowly in the berry we see much more complex and flavoursome wines. Vintage commenced in early March and concluded on the 4th May 2009. The 2009, like the 2008 looks to be a vintage for complex wines with great refinement.
As a winemaker, I find it is just a matter of treading a fine course of harvesting at optimal ripeness, avoiding both extreme spectrums of ripeness, trying to capture the fruit when maximum flavour is
apparent...the development of flavour is a bell curve. I have mostly tried to find a middle ground when it comes to ripeness, a difficult and perhaps subjective job given the varying conditions with
human interpretation of ripeness and the fact that many of the wine flavours are invisible within the berry.
The art of grape growing, I believe is to manage the vines so that their yield and canopy is matched to the conditions of vintage so that they will be ripening their fruit within. A crystal ball is useful but
one can use average conditions experienced and promote vine health trough good soil management to achieve the desired outcome !
Regards,
John Durham – Plantagenet Winemaker