Winemaker Adam Louder’s perspective on harvest 2023

Harvest 2023 has begun in the Grampians. Our winemaker Adam is in the thick of his 39th vintage (three countries, four regions). What does that mean?

39 times (in 25 years) he has participated in the process that includes harvesting grapes and turning them into wine.

His roles have varied over the years. He has cleaned the winery and equipment, worked in a laboratory analysing samples, picked grapes, managed vineyards, run a cellar, been a harvest winemaker and chief winemaker.

Each year is different thanks to seasonal weather conditions, staff and experience. Here’s Adam’s take on how harvest 2023 is shaping up.

Is harvest late, early or about the same time this year?

“Harvest is later than average in the Grampians this year,” says Adam. “We had a cooler than average growing season with plenty of spring rain followed by a dry mild summer.”

Are you going to do anything new/differently this year for SubRosa?

“We’re working with organic shiraz for our Rosé for the first time.”

How is this vintage shaping up compared to previous vintages?

“It is definitely a challenging season with disease pressure. We only make SubRosa wine when the grape quality is of a high standard as I want us to maintain our integrity. If the grapes are not up to my standards we will not make a variety.”

10 years since you started making wine for SubRosa, what’s the biggest change in your winemaking style/fruit selection over that time?

“In 2013 I made wine my way for the first time. We made Grampians Shiraz, Nebbiolo and Chardonnay. We moved to Viognier from Chardonnay in 2015 as a white variety. I really enjoy making, and drinking Viognier. It’s a complex and more exotic white wine. Stylistically our wines haven’t changed that much. I’m enjoying trying our wines as they age.”

We will re-release a limited amount of our 2013 wines later this year – keep your eyes out.

How close is harvest 2023?

 

 

Adam Louder, winemaker for SubRosa wines, checking grapes on the vine during harvest

Each year in late summer/early autumn (February/March) grapes ripen and are ready for harvest. Winemakers refer to this time as “vintage” as it is at this time grapes enter the winery and begin their journey to become wine. Harvest 2023 in the Grampians is almost here!

2023 is Adam Louder’s 39th vintage. An amazing achievement for the 42 year old.

How is vintage 2023 shaping up?

Each vintage is different. The biggest influence is the grape growing conditions, which are determined by the weather.

The growing conditions for vintage 2023 included lots of spring rain thanks to La Niña. This rain led to humid conditions creating disease pressure in early summer. Adam spent a lot of time in the vineyard looking for disease which luckily didn’t eventuate! A warm, dry summer has reduced the disease pressure and the focus now is on grape ripening and keeping wildlife (mostly birds) away from the vines.

How does Adam approach each vintage?

We should put a pedometer on Adam in late summer as he walks the vines every day inspecting grapes and vine health. As the grapes ripen, he starts tasting. He tastes grapes on his walks in the vineyard for more than two months. This process can start as early as February and continue to April/May – it all depends on mother nature. In the peak of vintage, Adam will taste more than 100 grapes a day. He squeezes the grape and looks at the grape skin, observes its texture and how juicy it is. He tastes the grape for flavour, sweetness and complexity. Then he spits the grape out. Guess who doesn’t eat table grapes at home?

 

Adam Louder, winemaker of SubRosa is checking the grapes sugar levels by squeezing it

 

What’s more important in making a high quality wine – art or science?

Winemaking is a combination of art and science. The art part is all experience. From his 38 previous harvests, Adam has developed a very refined palate. Using his intuition he is guided by taste as the primary marker. But he’s not against the use of science, in a supporting way. A refractometer is a small, handheld tool used by Adam that uses a prism to measure baumé. Baumé is a measurement of dissolved soluble solids in grape juice and indicates the grapes’ sugar level and ripeness. Sugar converts to alcohol in winemaking, so this is an indicator of the potential alcohol in the wine.

Adam will start tasting grapes in early March this year. Once he is happy with the grape texture and flavour he will begin picking and the winemaking process begins.

It’s is an exciting time. Every vintage is different. You never know what challenges you’ll be thrown.

Every winemaker likes to talk up the vintage, but what we do know for harvest 2023 in the Grampians is that the temperatures have been milder which means slower ripening. As they ripen slowly, grapes develop a more complex taste. Complexity means a wine is multi-faceted. Many types of aromas, flavours, and layers of depth on the palate. In other words, delicious.

In the words of Adam,

“We’re still a few weeks away from picking grapes. Not long now and we’ll get the first taste of what vintage 23 will deliver.”

The National Wine Centre hosts Grampians and Pyrenees wine tasting

National Wine Centre NWC at HomeThe National Wine Centre is giving wine lovers the chance to visit Australia’s wine regions from home with online masterclasses.

Throughout 2020, the NWC at Home program will work through the A-Z of Australian Wine Regions with masterclasses featuring six wines from six wineries.

Tonight’s event features the Grampians and Pyrenees and SubRosa’s winemaker Adam Louder along with Grampians Wine Cellar’s Simon Freeman will be available as part of the Zoom experience to answer questions.

The wines featured are:

  • 2019 Fallen Giants ‘FG’ Riesling $30
  • 2017 The Story Marsanne, Roussanne, Viognier $29
  • 2017 Best’s Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir $45
  • 2018 Pyren Vineyard ‘Franc’ Cabernet Franc $35
  • 2015 Sally’s Paddock ‘Sally’s Hill Cabernets’ Cabernet Sauvignon Blend $38
  • 2015 SubRosa ‘Aristocracy’ Grampians Shiraz $45 – Contact winery direct for purchase
  • Mystery Wine $25

The National Wine Centre is located in Adelaide and is the national showcase for the Australian wine industry.

Winter warmer

Ahhh winter…warm fires, cosy jumpers, brisk morning walks, hearty soups and stews…and delicious Shiraz.

Does it get much better?  We’re certainly enjoying the cooler weather here in the Grampians.

It’s been an action-packed year so far for SubRosa. Harvest kept Adam busy seven days a week from February – the beginning of May. He has crafted Grampians Viognier, Pyrenees Nebbiolo, Grampians Shiraz and Grampians Sangiovese Rosé (for release Summer 2018) this year.

Halliday review w wineAdam is happy with the 2018 harvest, “We had plenty of sunshine and cool nights which strung out the ripening season this will add to the complexity of our wines”.

We’ve introduced our wines to new faces and old friends as we hosted lunches, dinners and in-store tastings and attended wine festivals in Halls Gap, Warrnambool and Daylesford.

Adam took our Aristocracy Shiraz to Sydney for a Gourmet Traveller Wine dinner hosted by renowned wine journalist Peter Bourne and I hosted a Ladies Lunch at Eclectic Tastes Ballarat as part of the inaugural Plate Up Ballarat festival.

Yes, we’ve had a lot going on, but the greatest highlight of the year has been a little write-up by James Halliday in the Australian in May. We sent him our wines for the first time for inclusion in the 2019 Halliday Wine Companion and he chose to feature us in the Australian Weekend Magazine.

Halliday review The AustralianJames Halliday scored our Malakoff Estate Pyrenees Shiraz 96 points, he described our Aristocracy Grampians Shiraz (95 points) as “mouthfeel, balance and studied length are on another level…vibrant red fruits, spices and feather like tannins” and our Pyrenees Nebbiolo (95 points) as having “millimetre perfect tannins”. We’re proud as punch.

We’ve had great feedback from our Wine Club members and love pulling together the orders each season.

Our Winter Wine Club delivery is red, all red! It’s not too late to join The Club for Winter. All the details can be found here.

Enjoy the cooler winter months…it will be Spring before you know it!

Cheers,
Nancy