Vineyard

The Bloodwood Schubert vineyard is to the east of the cellar door on a gentle undulating north-east slope of volcanoclastic loam, interspersed with mass-flow rounded cobbles of crystalline andesitic lava scattered through a quite a friable red clay base. The vines are of the FVI10V5 clone, planted in rows running north/south and trellised to a Scott-Henry trellis system opened to the protected west.

The vines are mostly spur pruned to around 50,000 buds per hectare and with each vine occupying 4.5 square meters of the vineyard, yields are no more than moderate in most years.

Vintage Conditions

The Weather At Bloodwood is always the same; It's Different!

With the continuing La Nina, rainfall and warmth has been a challenge again this vintage with the added annoyance of a series of nasty, localized hail storms leading up to vintage. Yields have continued to recover and are around 20% up on 2022 with some very smart whites and early reds performing well. Both Riesling and Chardonnay are promising while it is another positive year for Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The oenological jury hasn't returned a verdict on later ripening reds like Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon but the light under the jury room door is weakening and there is fresh blood seeping along the skirting boards.

Winemaking

The hand-picked fruit was immediately whole-bunch pressed through our air-bag press to 1.1 atmospheres with the super low phenolic juice transferred to an insulated tank for overnight settling and subsequent racking. Some fine settlings were allowed to pass into the racking tank where, under gentle warmth, the juice commenced fermentation. After a Brix or so was converted by natural yeasts, the freshly moving juice was transferred to a mixture of 100% new Saury 3 year Immersion Bent French oak and ANA Selection Venus ML hogsheads and held in a warming room throughout primary fermentation. This is critical at Bloodwood as the autumn nights can be quite chilly and our indigenous yeasts, like us, seem to need some cosseting. Usually, ferment is conducted around 17 C to natural dryness over 23 days or so.

Immediately all activity ceases, the wine is sulfured, lees-stirred, topped up and relocated to our cool (13C) maturation cellar for aging. The fine lees are kept in contact with the wine through weekly topping and stirring, and after up to fourteen months, the wine is bench trialled, cold-stabilized to -5C for 7 days, protein stabilized and sterile filtered into bottle. Schubert is all about fruit and place and as long term devotees would appreciate, Bloodwood can be quite a deliciously fruity place.

(As we are progressively re-working our old Chardonnay vineyard this year’s Schubert Chardonnay includes the meagre 2023 yield of our P58 vineyard.) Alas there is no 2023 Bloodwood Chardonnay.

Wine Analysis

pH 3.22

Acidity 7.6 g/l

Alc/Vol 12.6 %

Tasting Notes

Bright green-gold in colour with an enticing bouquet of nectarine flower and creamy citrus, this wine's complex, mealy texture has been enhanced through gentle fermentation and maturation in fine quality 100% new French oak hogsheads. The brightly balanced, satisfying mouth-feel remains an emblematic element of the delicate power of this unique Bloodwood style. Medium

term cellaring will add to your enjoyment..

12.6% Al/Vol