Made Kindly Magazine by Zig Zag Rd Wines
Welcome to Issue 1 - Made Kindly Magazine by Harriet and Henry Churchill at Zig Zag Rd Wines. Visit zigzagwines.com.au
Welcome to Issue 1 - Made Kindly Magazine by Harriet and Henry Churchill at Zig Zag Rd Wines.
Visit zigzagwines.com.au
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The vines will be sharing their captured sugars with the<br />
fungi under the ground, and in exchange the fungi will be<br />
giving minerals and nutrition back to the plant.<br />
This is a particularly important process in the way we’re<br />
farming: we don’t use synthetic fertilisers, and instead rely<br />
on the biology below ground to support the plants growth and<br />
wellbeing. Rather than using chemicals, we spray food for the<br />
fungi and microorganisms: molasses; fish kelp; whey; nettle;<br />
humates; citrus <strong>by</strong> products and compost, amongst other<br />
things.<br />
We’re going through the vineyard and pushing up the canes<br />
into the foliage wires to allow the dappled sunlight to hit<br />
the berries, and to make sure our organic sprays get good<br />
coverage over the foliage.<br />
It’s a time friends come to stay and help out with the work.<br />
Hard days out in the vines, with beautiful evenings watching<br />
the sunset over the vineyard, with a glass of wine.<br />
It’s thriving and colourful.<br />
APRIL<br />
It’s a very beautiful time at the vineyard,<br />
with the foliage on the ornamental vine<br />
around the cellar door in its full red glory.<br />
This is the time when we’ll plant a cover<br />
crop in the mid rows, as part of our<br />
regenerative practice.<br />
We’ll bring in the sheep (and in the future<br />
ducks and geese), and intensively graze them<br />
in accordance with regenerative practises -<br />
using cells to move them through the vineyard<br />
like herd animals. They’ll gobble up the<br />
grasses and weeds, trample down the organic<br />
matter so it touches the soil, and poop out<br />
natural fertiliser for the bugs and microbes.<br />
Wine making continues. The wines will be<br />
going through their process of fermentation,<br />
and we’re constantly tasting and analysing.<br />
FEBRUARY<br />
Hot and dry. Similar processes as January, but now the<br />
berries are going through veraison (green, hard and sour, to<br />
purple, soft and sweet) and the birds will be circling<br />
It’s a time of nets!! This is a big, fun, job. Before the<br />
berries turn purple, we haul huge nets over the rows of<br />
vines. We clip up the holes and put out the bird scarer. We<br />
sit with our breakfast every morning, peering at the crows,<br />
galahs, cockatoos, silver eyes, and other birds working out<br />
how to pilfer our livelihood.<br />
We’re constantly walking the vineyard to check ripeness of<br />
the grapes, estimating the harvest, and pulling back down the<br />
nets that have blown over in the summer winds (including huge<br />
willy willy’s).<br />
We can feel harvest around the corner. Preparations afoot.<br />
The winery is being reorganised, putting the bottled wine<br />
into cool storage, and making space for the equipment we<br />
need.<br />
MAY<br />
The Macedon Ranges is in one of its most<br />
beautiful seasons, with the leaves turned<br />
and falling, and often still, warm days and<br />
chilli nights. We’ll start looking at the<br />
fireplace.<br />
We’re finishing off the wine making, and<br />
starting the process of cleaning up after<br />
the season. Nets in, winery cleaned, fences<br />
and foliage wires fixed. We’re tasting and<br />
drinking the wine, topping up barrels, and<br />
starting to plan for the bottling of the<br />
white wines.<br />
Wood will be chopped from the paddocks, and<br />
red gum brought in.<br />
The pace is starting to slow a little, and<br />
hikes, coffees, and friendships abound.<br />
MARCH<br />
The waiting game. We need sunshine and not much rain, to<br />
ripen the berries. They’re all red now and the sugars,<br />
flavours and tannins are developing.<br />
It’s at this time of year when the birds are at fever pitch,<br />
desperate to eat the juicy berries.<br />
JUNE<br />
The wine is made, and the temperature is<br />
falling. The vineyard is resting.<br />
And so are we.<br />
Vintage starts. We’re constantly analysing the grapes to<br />
check for ripeness: how do they taste (generally, if they<br />
taste good, the wine will be good)? What is their sugar<br />
content? (measured in brix or baume)? What is their acid<br />
content (measured with a ph reader)?<br />
Lots of heaving, and forklifts, and early mornings. Stress<br />
and joy. Equipment breaking and quick solutions found. Every<br />
wrong step can ruin the whole year’s work, and a lot is at<br />
stake.<br />
The ferments start naturally, which means there’s a nail<br />
biting 3 or 4 days waiting for the indigenous yeasts to start<br />
their work. If it takes longer, the grapes can spoil.<br />
Our hands (and sometimes feet) are bright red, no matter how<br />
much we wash. The energy is frenetic, but it’s a rich, alive<br />
time. We sometimes take the nets off late at night, when the<br />
birds are asleep, under the bright moon and a billion stars.<br />
The beauty can slap you to tears.<br />
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