VINEYARD & WINEMAKING
Viticulture
The Vines
Holm Oak is planted to 10.5 hectares. This consists of:
- 4 hectares of Pinot Noir clones currently planted include: MV6, D5V12, 115, 777 and 521 the first two clones mentioned were established in 1983 making them some of the oldest Pinot Noir vines in Tasmania (coming soon 667, Abel and more);
- 1 hectare of Riesling which consists of 3 clones established in 1993;
- 1 hectare of Chardonnay made up of 2 clones established in 2007;
- 1 hectare of Pinot Gris established in 2007;
- 2 hectares of Cabernet established in 1983;
- The balance of the vineyard is planted to Merlot and Arneis.
- We plan to establish another 2 hectares in the next couple of years with Pinot Noir and possibly Gruner Veltliner being the preferred varieties.
- Vine spacing varies from 2000 to 4000 vines to the hectare. Plantings from 2007 onwards will be just over 2000 vines to hectare.
- All plantings run North/South to maximise exposure to the sun.
Vineyard Management.
We have found that arched cane VSP seems to produce the best results for us. We prune the majority of the vineyard this way. During the growing season we shoot thin, leaf pluck and remove shoulder bunches if necessary. We may need to trim tops of shoots just prior to veraison depending on the level of vigour. We only leaf pluck the Pinot Noir and Riesling on the Eastern side of the vine. Irrigation is used sparingly with some of our older vines able to maintain good growth with rainfall received during the year. Annual rainfall in the Rowella area of the Tamar Valley is around 600-660mm. All harvesting and Pruning is currently carried out by hand. The majority of Holm Oak’s vineyard operations are done by Bec and Tim which ensures we keep in touch with vineyard changes and fruit quality outcomes.
Harvesting of Fruit
All fruit is harvested by hand – parcels harvested on any given day are quite small. This helps us to identify super deluxe premium fruit and process it accordingly in the winery. We take control of ensuring fruit going into our Wild Max Reserve label has any inferior grapes removed during harvest. To date we have found we can keep our fruit reasonably defect free in the vineyard so the need to use a sorting table is avoided. Generally all fruit harvested is free from major defects.
The Terroir
CLIMATE
Tasmania has a moderate maritime climate, cooled by prevailing westerlies off the Southern Ocean, providing conditions that are generally free from extremes.
Mild spring and summer temperatures, with warm autumn days and cool nights, allow the grapes to ripen slowly on the vine, resulting in maximum varietal flavour development. This is achieved without losing that essential natural acid that gives Tasmania’s wines freshness and balance. Tasmania has a climate suitable for the production of super premium wines and is one of only a handful of places in Australia regarded as producing superior Pinot Noir table and sparkling wines.
The Dirt
The Tasmanian landscape is dominated by dolerite-capped mountains that shelter the state’s vineyards from high winds and rainfall. On the lower slopes, the vineyard soils are formed from ancient sandstones and mudstones and also from more recent river sediments and igneous rock of volcanic origin. There are a few different soil types at Holm Oak but the majority is Acidic Grey Kandosol on Permian mudstone. Some of the land area is deemed to rocky for viticultural production with quite a bit of sheet rock that only blasting can penetrate.
Sustainability
Tim has had quite a bit of experience in the agronomic field having worked for a major private horticultural firm for over 10 years and is a 3rd generation hands on grape grower. Together with Bec their growing philosophy is to produce the cleanest product with the softest management practices available. This involves using some organic, biodynamic and modern soft chemistry. We are in the process of adopting some biodynamic and organic measures on a larger scale. We have seen some disastrous results from the use of these practices so we are proceeding with caution believing they are more easily adopted in lower rainfall areas. We are also challenged by the use of the lunar cycle for vineyard management practices. In general as a result of stringent export requirements the Australian wine industry as a whole adopts quite a minimalist approach when it comes to chemical usage
Winemaking
Pinot Noir
How we make our Pinot depends on vintage conditions and the resultant fruit quality. It also depends a bit on how we are feeling at the time and what exciting trials we are conducting in any particular year. However, we do tend to follow a general plan to ensure a consistent style as much as possible.
Most fruit is de-stemmed prior to fermentation; however we do a few batches of 20% whole bunch fermentation so that the final wine has about 5% whole bunch. The crushed fruit is allowed to soak at ambient temperature for approximately 4 days before being inoculated or for as long as it takes for a wild ferment to start. 60% of the fruit is wild fermented; the remaining 40% is inoculated with two different yeast strains. The fruit is fermented in 1.5 tonne open fermenters and is hand plunged. Approximately 5% of the final wine is drained off skins at 4 – 6 Baume for barrel fermentation to increase palate complexity and silkiness. We generally don’t do any post fermentation maceration. The fruit is then pressed in an air bag press straight to barrel where it goes through malo before being racked and returned to barrel for maturation for about 9 months. We use around 15% - 20% new French oak with the remaining being 1 – 4 year old French oak. The wine is egg fined and then filtered before bottling.
Cabernet and Merlot
Our philosophy with the Bordeax varieties is to extract as much fruit character as possible without extracting too much of the greener tannins that can be a problem in cooler climates. Our Cabernet and Merlot are fermented in small open fermenters and hand plunged. We inoculate all ferments to get things happening quickly. We then work the cap hard while the alcohol level in the wine is low until about half the sugar has been fermented to extract as much colour and fruit flavour as possible. We then taper off the plunging as the ferment finishes. The wines are pressed to barrel or tank depending on the product allocation.
The cabernet for our straight varietal Cabernet Sauvignon is matured in 20% new oak and 80% 1 – 4 year old oak for 15 months prior to being bottled; where as the more fruit driven Cab Merlot style is matured in 50% older oak and 50% stainless steel for 9 months.
Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay
Tasmanian whites have beautiful fruit purity and acid structure and our aim with these varieties is to express these characters as best we can. We have two different clones of Sauvignon Blanc, one which is more grassy and one which tends to show more passionfruit, so we ferment these two separately with two different yeast strains which have been specifically selected to enhance these characters. The same applies to our Riesling where we have three clones, one minerally, one aromatic, and one with a bit of both.
We bottle these wines as soon as possible after vintage to ensure that we retain the freshness and aromatics of the wines.
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