Day 8 (25 August 2010):
My last day at Taltarni. It’s a double shift day. The first shift started at 6 am and the second would start at 2 pm. I cheekily turned up at the winery at 7:30 am, relieved to find that it actually took them an hour to set up. So the bottling line for T-Series Sauvignon Blanc did not start till 7 pm and I had only missed out on a little bit of the action.
As usual, I was rotated around the line to make sure that I gained some hands-on experience and familiarization with the 3 main tasks for the bottling line: 1) putting the empty bottles onto the bottling line; 2) packing the bottles into cartons; and 3) loading the cartons onto the pallet (64 cases a pallet). The last of which was actually the most physically demanding task, as the cartons were heavy and it took some strength to heave the cartons onto the top of the pallet when it already had 3 tiers of cartons. I did feel my arms weakening by the time I finished with the 12th pallet! They must have thought it’s the best way to keep me out of trouble here - so I spent quite a bit of time at loading up pallets with cartons. I did not mind at all, as it was great exercise – a good substitute for the gym and it felt like I was really achieving something each time I saw the heavily laden pallet being forklifted away by Nathan the line supervisor! It was also good to see Helen and Anita again, as they were such great teachers on the disgorging line! Anita told me that we were bottling more than 3,000 bottles an hour!!!!
I was relieved from the line by Robert at about 1:30 pm and we did some barrel tasting. What I tasted was still relatively young but I can say that I really liked the Cabernet Sauvignon and was quite impressed by the Mataro which had a very interesting white pepper character. At Taltarni, they use new oak for their top Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz wines.
I then said goodbye to Deb, Jaye and Happy. Jaye looked a bit like a wreck having started at 5:30 am and Deb looked refreshed having had the morning off, and just about to start her shift.
I also said goodbye to Jacques who assured me that there would be a cleaning lady in the cottage the following day, and that I needn’t worry about taking off the bedding and putting into the washing machine, etc!
I spent the next half hour doing a cellar door tasting with Loïc. We tried the 2005 Vintage Brut Clover Hill, the 2008 Taltarni Brut, the 2008 Taltarni Brut Tâché (which is their best seller!), followed by 2008 Lalla Gully Riesling and Pinot Gris, as well as the Three Monks Fumé Blanc, which would go very fair with seafood! Then we tried the reds, including T-Series Shiraz, Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Heathcote Shiraz and the Reserve Shiraz Cabernet. I thought the Heathcote Shiraz showed a lovely peppery spicy character underneath its ripe black fruits.
Loïc very generously gave me 3 wines to take back to HK: 2006 Clover Hill Blanc de Blancs, 2004 Reserve Shiraz Cabernet and 1986 French Syrah. I am so looking forward to trying the 1986 French Syrah as I love aged Rhône style wines!
Then it’s a bit of a panic run back to the cottage to pack my things before Karina showed up. I couldn’t afford to miss the lift to the airport as the alternative of 2 separate long bus rides with an hour and a half waiting time in between would be rather unthinkable with my luggage, the rain and the chilly weather!
Karina and I had a very good chat on the way to the airport and we had 3 hours of quality chat! I found out that Karina studied chemical engineering at university and then decided to change to winemaking after having tried it out as research technician at a winery. She had wanted to make fortifieds but the market was not in favour of them and she then tried her hand at alternative varieties, such as Tempranillo and Viognier, and won awards for these wines! She wanted to make sparkling wine in the traditional way, and she wanted to work in Tasmania - the opportunity with Clover Hill and Taltarni fitted her objectives perfectly and she arrived at Taltarni 4 years ago. Karina is an interesting winemaker because she has also spent almost a year in Italy working in Le Marche and she really impressed me with her knowledge of Italian indigenous varieties, quite unusual for an Australian winemaker! She was not only familiar with Italian varieties, she also knew her Grüner Veltliner and Albariño. She also sounded like a real food expert (naturally so, with a German father who’s an accomplished chef with a keen interest in international cuisines and wines too!). By the time we went to our separate terminals at Tullamarine Airport, I was pretty convinced that she had had a lot of fun building her career as a winemaker with much success speaking for it – a really impressive list of awards she has won for the wines she made! She hasn’t stopped learning though and is thinking of doing the WSET Advanced Certificate later in the year, having done the Intermediate last year……very admirable especially when she’s already an accomplished winemaker! I couldn’t believe that she was really doing the WSET courses! There is no end to the path of knowledge……..
Lesson #8: There is no shortcut to learning. Live and learn!
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