Bayview Vineyard Story

Home

The Bayview Story

Our Vineyard

Our Vineyard

It all starts in the vineyard

Ask any wine expert and they will all tell you that 95% of the winemaking process is done in the vineyard.

To make a truly brilliant wine you don't need to invest 100's of thousands or millions of dollars on equipment to correct wine faults but invest a lot of time and TLC in your vineyard.

In 2005 we planted the first stage of the vineyard with Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris and Viognier. This season we will expand the vineyard with Pinot Noir, more Sauvignon Blanc and more Pinot Gris.

At Bayview we focus on making a truly handmade wine. This means that all vineyard work is completed with human labour and also a bit of blood, sweat, tears and the odd wasp sting at harvest.

Our Vineyard Mission

To keep viticultural techniques evolving with the times;

Reduce the yields and increase quality;

Focus on pruning to increase grape quality and achieve vine balance from one harvest to the next;

Control pounds per vine so we can be confident the vine will ripen evenly and produce the best quality fruit;

Control the amount of buds per vine and yield allowing for better sun exposure, more energy for the existing buds and better circulation to help ripening;

Good sugar to acid ratios.

The season really starts with the winter pruning where all the old shoots and canes are removed and the new canes laid down on the cordon wire. We limit the plant to 2 canes with no more than 10 buds on each cane.

After bud break and once the shoots have reached the first wire, about 6 inches in length we remove any extra shoots and any suckers forming on the truck of the vine. This is to ensure that the vines energy is not wasted on excessive vegetative growth and to allow maximum sun exposure and wind circulation, this is something we have an abundance of.

From here the vine is left to grow, the only intervention here is to keep the vine growing within the trellis structure.

After flowering, between bunch set and bunch closure, we selectively remove leaves and laterals from around the grape clusters, remove all grape clusters from weak shots and remove 1 grape cluster from average strength shoots. Once again, you want to limit the crop on grape vines to ensure even ripening and reduce the risk of having to harvest a crop that hasn't reached maximum maturity or sugar/flavour levels.

We also hedge the tops of the vines to prevent shading of other rows and to restrict growth.

All our crop is hand harvested (by our lovely neighbours) to minimise damage to the berries and to ensure the minimum amount of juice is lost from the grape.