Rosnay is inviting wine lovers to join us for a momentous, exciting moment – the making a our very first, very small, vintage in our own micro winery in 2014!
Yes, after about 12 years of having our wines made by different contract or contra winemakers, and which we will by the way continue to do, we are going to test the water and make some wine ourselves in 2014. Revved up following our studies in France last May, we will ferment hand picked grapes using very primitive, simple, hands on techniques such as small (half tonne) hand plunged wild yeast open vat ferments, basket pressing, gravity transfers, and barrel maturation. The challenge is not to get too excited and try to do too much in the first year.
And so you are invited to join in the fun as we lose our winemaking virginity!
Come on out and pick grapes, stomp grapes, or plunge caps, pretty much any time from mid February to mid April. We are planning to hand pick half a tonne to a tonne each of Mourverdre, Merlot and Cabernet, possibly some Chardonnay and Semillon as well. We are also looking at picking a bit more of the Shiraz and doing it in stages – keeping early, mid and late picked fruit separate in order to track the evolution of aroma over time in line with the theories of Alain Deloire from the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre in Wagga (essentially, after the sugars are fully accumulated, you get a spectrum of aromas over time from “fresh” to “ripe” and we’ll see which ones are the best).
Contact us if you are keen and we will talk about it as we get closer…
Hi Sam
that’s exciting news! I’d love to come along & give a hand. Not sure of my work situation yet but later in the season would probably be better for me.
ciao
Jenny
Great Jenny – It will be great to have you here again! I will keep you posted as the dates become clearer.
Sounds like a great opportunity. I am interested.
Great!! I will email you the offer, as well as anyone else who puts their hand up, over the next few weeks…
Hi there,
I would be interested in the even of making your first wine. Can you please advise when that will be happening and what is involved – i.e. payment, booking, etc.
Thanks!
Dear Tatiana, we would love to have you involved. There is no cost per se, but you would need to come up here for a couple of days and get involved, picking, plunging, pressing etc. We are also looking at an “en primeur” offer in which you can make an upfront contribution to the winemaking costs (barrels, equipment etc) and get a return on investment in the form of wine. Currently thinking an investment of $500 upfront, before vintage, would return 5 cases (dozens) of the new wine you help to make, and if it doesnt work out, then it can be 5 cases of the current Rosnay wine… So no risk really, just fun!