Walker Hall Winery

Winter

The cold and rain in winter are never a problem for vineyard workers while they prune the vines. People might imagine pruning to be dull and repetitive. In fact, it is the opposite. Each plant requires an individual assessment of the best branches to keep, the best buds, the effect of the pruning on the harvest and even on the following years' pruning.

The vat room, which for two months had been the hub of the estate, is now deserted. But the barrel cellar is a hive of intense and varied activity. In the cellar, we can at last get to know the character of the wines from each plot. We can already form an idea of the likely blends, on which we will be working enthusiastically over the coming weeks. The winter cold is good for the fining process, as it favours the sedimentation of the lees in the barrels.

Pruning

Pruning, de-budding, trellising, sometimes de-leafing, and crop thinning, mostly all of which are done by hand, combine to create this harmonious balance in the vines that is characteristic of a top quality vineyard. None of these tasks can be considered separately.

However, of all of them, pruning is the most important. The quality of the crop and the longevity of the plots depend on successful pruning. The number of buds left on the vine after pruning determines the delicate balance of the vine plant. If too many buds are left, the crop size will be too large, and therefore unable to reach a sufficient level of ripeness. On the other hand, a severe pruning, leaving too few buds, will lead to an excess of vigour and in turn will favour vine growth to the detriment of the ripening of the grapes. An optimal balance exists in not only every plot but also in every vine plant. Only the experienced vineyard workers can find this naturally. They maintain this balance in the vines and thereby help to prolong the life-span of the plants. Winter pruning merges into a spring 'green pruning' in the form of de-budding. This is firstly the removing of most of the young non fruit-bearing shoots to avoid an overabundance of vegetation that would deprive the future grape bunches of the necessary exposure to sunshine. Secondly, it concentrates the nutritive products made by the leaves in the direction of the fruit-bearing branches, which favours the ripening process. Finally, de-budding also enables the vineyard worker to select branches in advance which will serve for the next year's pruning, thus making that task easier and less damaging for the vine in avoiding needless brutal cutting and the resulting pruning wounds on the vines.

Press wine

At the end of the running off, when the free-run wine has been separated off into vats, or already into barrels, and is waiting for the malo-lactic fermentation to start, the grape skins, making up the marc, are removed from the vats and pressed to make a press wine. This is a very delicate operation which we carry out with the greatest care, since the success of the future blending partly depends on a successful press wine. When the marc has not been exhausted by an excessive extraction, it is capable, through pressing, of producing a rich, powerful, very tannic, but well balanced wine with a long, soft and fleshy finish.

Such a press wine can only improve the blend, as it brings power, backbone and length, without unsettling the subtle harmony that is established by the addition of the best of the free-run wine. However, as elsewhere with grape quality and vinification, the highest standards are required for the pressing since, if proper care is not taken, underlying problems in the free-run wine are likely to come to the forefront in the press wine.

Fining

Generally, five or six egg whites are used per barrel. They are lightly whisked but not stiffly beaten, and then poured through the bung-hole into the barrel. The wine is then stirred vigorously to make sure the egg white mixes quickly and evenly with the wine. The barrels are then turned so that the bung faces the side and comes into contact with the wine, and are left for a month and a half. They are then racked, i.e. decanted carefully.

Apart from being an elaborate form of clarification, fining leads to a noticeable development of certain characters in the wine. The aromas become finer and more complex, the tannins less harsh, the body more tender, the finish softer.