March 2025 - Bottling Wines & Pruning Vines
Harvest 2024 seems a long time ago - especially the warm evenings when Vika and her team were pressing the grapes. Now many months later we are moving onto the next step in the winemaking process.
With great excitement we sent the first of many IBCs to the bottling company in Kent. While we have a vineyard to grow the grapes and a winery to craft the wine, we don’t yet have the facilities to bottle them on-site.
The first wines to make the journey were Rose and Bacchus wines which will return in bottles as the 2024 vintage.
Before reaching the IBC stage, our wines were carefully stored in stainless steel tanks. Once ready, they were racked into the bag inside the IBC—a process that removes sediment and clarifies the liquid. Racking involves gently siphoning the wine off any lees (the natural deposits of dead yeast and solids) that have settled at the bottom. This not only enhances the wine’s clarity but also helps ensure its stability for bottling.
Our Rose and Bacchus wines will soon be bottled in elegant clear glass Bordeaux-style bottles. Clear glass is traditionally used for white and rose wines to showcase their beautiful hues and crystal-clear clarity. To complete the look, each bottle will be sealed with a screw cap and adorned with our classic Giffords Hall Vineyard label.
Pruning continues at our Hartest vineyard with plans to commence at our other site shortly.
