Celestial Bay Winemaking Practises
Our belief in the adage that great wine is made from great fruit drives our efforts in the vineyard to ensure that we start with the best possible raw materials. We use only estate grown fruit to maintain control over every aspect of the production process. We pick fruit at the level of ripeness required for the styles of wine we make. Our winemaker, Bernard Abbot, is vigilant with regard to cropping levels and insists that we allow the vines to achieve optimum ripeness and concentration of flavour and colour compounds. This often involves hand management of the vineyard, dropping fruit when excess crop is developing and managing canopy structure to provide the most efficient utilisation of sun energy and optimal bunch exposure.
Bernard's extensive experience making wine in the Margaret River region, combined with his time working in France has shaped his approach in the winery. Having a technical background, he understands all the fundamental elements of New World winemaking - fastidious attention to hygiene in the winery, effective management of fermentation microbiology, careful stewardship of the wine post fermentation to bottling - yet still prefers an artisan approach to his craft. He combines this with a local's knowledge of how varieties are best managed in each vintage and how best to express Margaret River regionality in Celestial Bay wines. (Click here to view a video presentation by Bernard)
Our vineyard is set to a vertical shoot positioned canopy structure, allowing us to machine harvest our fruit. Machine harvesting is efficient and conducive to wine quality. A block of the vineyard can be quickly picked, at the same level of ripeness, in the cool of the night (minimising the effect of temperature on quality degradation) and the freshly harvested fruit delivered to the winery ready for processing. Fruit is vulnerable at this point in production and it is essential to get it crushed, pressed and into tank as juice, where refrigeration and small additions of sulphur dioxide can protect it against oxidation, bacterial spoilage or spotaneous fermentation by undesirable yeast strains.
Fresh, un-wooded white styles are fermented in temperature controlled stainless steel vats. Maintaining temperatures during ferment at 14 - 16 C is essential to ensure that delicate aromatic flavour compounds in the fruit are preserved. Specific yeast strains that enhance these aromas are also used. Our aim is to bottle these wines early, capturing the essence of the fruit. These wines are made to be enjoyed within 2 years of bottling.
Our Chardonnay style is evolving as the vineyard matures. Previous vintages have seen a measured approach to the use of oak and wine-making heroics, as Bernard felt the fruit power required to absorb and meld with such characteristics had not yet developed. In 2007, we stepped up the oak component, putting 30% through barrel fermentation and subsequent lees stirring. We have invested in more new oak for 2008 and Bernard will continue to build the level of complexity, while retaining finesse and structure, which has become an expected trait of our Chardonnay. We suggest that these wines are ready to drink on release and will benefit from cellaring for 2-3 years.
Full-bodied red wines are made in the tradtional way utilising small open pot fermenters. This allows Bernard to employ intensive maceration techniques. (View a video clip of Bernard hand plunging a red ferment here) Each ferment is hand plunged four times a day with twice daily pump-overs (where the fermenting juice is pumped from the bottom of the tank to be percolated through the skin-cap) ensuring that extraction of skin components is maximised. Pumping over also introduces oxygen to the process, stabilising and softening the polyphenol components we are extracting from the skins. Red wines made in this fashion show good colour and a more integrated tannin structure as young wines and have the potential for greater longevity. Bernard's intent is to ensure the extract of polyphenols is balanced to the level of fruit flavour and depth and that acidity adds freshness and definition, referring to the French approach that values structure and balance in wine over absolute power and depth.
Red wines spend 12-18 months in oak barriques prior to final blending and bottling. Wine is stored in oak primarily to soften tannins and further stabilise polyphenol components in the wine. Red wines that have been properly conditioned in oak have a gentler, more complex tannin structure and will evolve in the bottle with less deposition of sediment than those that have not. The added sensory complexities that oak imparts should not dominate. All this takes time, but it is worth the wait. There is no way to rush this process. We use French oak for our Cabernet Sauvignon dominated wines and French with smaller amounts of American oak for our Shiraz based wines. Our red wines are also ready to drink on release and will continue to improve for 3-5 years.