Great Southern

I can’t believe I didn’t include this gem in my last post – me stomping the Pinot!

And a tribute to the new cellar door (tasting room):

My job ended abruptly after the picking was finished and all the crushing gear was cleaned, as all there was left to do was barrel work and wait for a very extended maceration of the top cabernets.  Our vintage party involved morning champagne, super golf (an easy version of golf with lighter clubs with larger faces and larger but lighter golf balls that were brightly colored so they were easier to find even though I still managed to lose one), 

a long-table lunch down by the Margaret river, and then a sort of continuation of the celebration at Britta’s lovely house.  The day involved some delicious wines including a Hafner Chardonnay, which immensely impressed the very hard to impress Watsons (well done Hafners!), a Spottswoode Cabernet (always well received), Chateaux Margaux, Hill of Grace, many other delicious wines, and ended with a 1927 Port:

With my free time the following week I decided to take off for a couple days and go camping in the Great Southern region.  The drive was beautiful (good thing because it was very long), I visited a couple good wineries (they make a good Pinot, as it is cooler down south), and on the way back I stopped at the south-western tip of Australia, Cape Leeuwin, which has this lighthouse:

And is yet another point where two oceans meet, this time the Southern and the Indian.  I swam in both that day J

Wilyabrup

Woodlands Wines is in Wilyabrup, supposedly the best subregion for growing Cabernet grapes in Western Australia.  It is a pretty small winery, with a somewhat rustic feel considering the various tank sizes and conditions, mostly bought used at a great bargain, the state of the laboratory, scattered with tools, thermometers, hydrometers, beakers, chemicals, sulfur and pH testing machines, additives (lots of tartaric acid), and of course an espresso machine and a fridge generally stocked with Roger’s beer.  Side note on Roger’s beer, it is made by a brewery called Little Creatures, that also makes a pale ale modeled after Sierra Nevada (and almost as good!).  The wine makers are very particular about how clean they want each piece of equipment before use, so a large portion of my time at the winery is spent in rubber gloves and safety glasses, handling caustic cleaning agents and citric acid to neutralize.  I have also gotten to do some barrel work, fruit receival, sorting, pressing, racking, inoculating, and lots of pump overs, accompanied by temp, baume (brix), and pH testing.  We worked a lot of hours during the busiest times, but they usually managed to give a day off here and there to everyone.  They also made dinner for us (accompanied by a glass or two of wine) if we were there late, which was always delicious.  I had my birthday off, and got to spend a second February birthday in the summer, this time on a beach:

Then they cooked me dinner at the winery on my birthday as well, including a beautiful cake decorated by Emilie, the 11-year-old daughter of the wine maker:

I also had St. Patrick’s day off, which turned into another beautiful day at the beach:

 (yes I'm wearing green!)