And just like that, our first full yield harvest at Wildshark Vineyard is over and what an amazing year it’s been!
We began harvesting on 7th October and our final day of picking was Saturday 26th October. Throughout this time, over 2000 hours have been spent picking over a total of 12 days. This includes exceptionally long days, we had to make the most of the weather while it lasted!
What is harvest?
Harvesting is when we pick all our ripe bunches of grapes and prepare them to be made into wine. This can be an incredibly long process, especially with such a vast vineyard. All our grapes are carefully hand-picked and only the best fruits are selected. We pride ourselves of choosing quality over quantity and luckily, because of all the hard work from out viticulture team, we had a high quantity of high-quality grapes this year!
A tool called snips are used to cut the grapes off the vine, any grapes that have been compromised are cut off and are placed in buckets along the vines. They are then collected by a truck and placed into bigger crates – 3 of these crates are equal to a ton. As the truck goes up the vines, the viticulture team chuck out any sour grapes or poor-quality grapes and they are left to feed the local wildlife and go back into the soil for next year.
Who does the harvest?
Our core viticulture team lead the harvest and make the decisions based on the acidity of the grapes, the weather and other factors which might affect the quality. Not all days are harvested on.
We also welcome agency workers as well as lovely volunteers who join us for the experience, the comradery, and a cheeky bottle of wine at the end!
We were also delighted to offer a brand new harvest package. Attendees were able to partake in some harvesting before enjoying a tour, tasting and picnic to finish the day!
How much did we pick?
How much did we pick?
In short, a lot! In total, we picked just over 123 tons of grapes of 5 different varieties.
Bacchus
Pinot Gris
Pinot noir
Pinot Meunier
Chardonnay
These grapes are combined into different wines and exciting new flavours!
How much wine are we looking to produce?
How much wine are we looking to produce?
We are hoping to produce approximately 100-110k bottles of wine, with 10 different wines.
This is a giant leap from last year as it was our very first year, we produced a Bacchus and a Rosé. 2025 is looking to be a huge year for Wildshark!
What wines are we going to produce?
What wines are we going to produce?
Before our grapes have started the process of becoming wine, it’s hard to tell exactly what wines we’ll be able to produce. Ultimately, whatever wine is made, must be of the highest quality… we’ve got a reputation to upkeep!
Here is what we’re hoping to produce next year!
-BDB and BDN traditional method sparkling. On the lees for 3-4 years.
-Charmât sparkling brut
-Charmât sparkling blush
-Pinot Noir/ Meunier blend rose
-100% Pinot Noir premium rose
-Bacchus
-Bacchus fume-aged in French oak barrels
-Chardonnay
-Pinot Gris
-Pinot Noir Red
We really can’t thank every single person who helped us with this harvest, we simply couldn’t have done it without you! We simply can’t wait for you to try the fruits of our labour next year!
Don’t forget, you can still gift tour packages for next year now! Click the button below to check out what we have on offer!
