and closer..... the office is getting tense. Too much rain, too little time, so much to still organise.

The nets are on. Which means that in approximately two weeks, we'll be harvesting the Pinot Noir for the methode base. From there we have about four to five weeks before it is on - round the clock, seven days a week, heart throbbing, back breaking ON.

Vintage.

There are a few indications that things are drawing closer - the harvester is being put together, the bottling program is full of wine to be out the door before the new vintage arrives, the planning of pre-vintage festivities, the scheduled arrival of the new cellar hands, the new barrel orders. The excitement is brewing.

There are many things to love about vintage - and of course a lot of love is needed for vintage. Why else would you work twelve hours a day, six days a week from 7pm to 7am?

I look forward to the new faces, the expectations, the challenges, the problems. I look forward to the social and emotional complexities of running the twelve hour night shift - and the soap opera that goes along with it all....

I aim to keep posting throughout our vintage - the highs, the lows, the trivial. So come along for the ride, and give me a shout if there is anything you want to know.