Made Kindly Magazine by Zig Zag Rd Wines

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