So all the juices from the grapes we picked between the 5th and 21st of October in Barham have now completed their primary fermentation. This is stage one in a long production journey and stage two is now to inoculate the wines with malo-lactic bacteria that will instigate a malo-lactic fermentation, to soften the racy acidity found in most English grapes.
All the separate clones have been kept in separate tanks so that we can monitor their development in detail and as the external temperature drops, we need to use the heating network to ensure the tanks remain at the optimum temperature for this malo-lactic fermentation to progress.
We have talked about how the glorious autumn weather allowed us to pick the fruit at the optimum time and how delighted we were with the quality and maturity of the juices as they came into the winery. Much of this is judged on taste and appearance of the fruit, as there was barely any botrytis and no disease damage, but it was also reflected in the near perfect analytical statistics of the juices.
Average analytical parameters for this harvest.
Potential alcohol – 10-11%
Total acidity – 10-12 (tartaric)
pH – 3-3.1 (pressings – 3-3.4)
The frenetic activity in the winery has died down as the tanks gently progress with their fermentation. We continue to be impressed with the quality of the wines and feel confident that this first 2016 harvest will be stellar!