Today, with the weather seemingly set fair, is pretty much a ‘mopping up’ operation for our smaller vineyards. To complete those not quite finished before (sometimes because of weather, or maybe logistics), and to also pick the final, smaller locations. Normally, the way we rotate through our different vineyard sites would be dictated by maturity of the fruit, in the different sections or parcels. Now it is almost the reverse, reviewing the fruit and prioritising any parcel that maybe be in even the slightest danger of rot or disease; maturity is really not an issue this year.

By the end of the day, curtailed by a little light rain, every small vineyard had been completed, and the final count for the day revealed that our team had managed to pick 2-3,000 kg more than we had anticipated. An excellent result.