Stobi Vintage 2014 - MW Jo Ahearne Captures the Moment as the First Grapes Arrive
Posted on Sun 13th Jul 2014 at 11:00
This morning I felt distinctly lucky as I had a half hour 'lie in' for my flight back to London. Usually it's the 5.10 red eye from Skopje to Luton but since the grapes decided to get ripe just as the UK schools go back I am travelling via Zagreb and Rijeka as the whole week's flights are completely sold out.
Same cafe, same macchiato (in an attempt to wake myself up) and the same pastry to dunk in the coffee. It's a chewy half doughnut half pretzel with nigella seeds sprinkled over it that is somehow the perfect start to an early day. A bit like Macedonian wine - substantial but fragrant. Well the vintage has well and truly started. Yesterday saw the arrival of the first Chardonnay. All safely ensconced in Tank 42. There has been plenty of rain this year which is always a mixed blessing in the world of grapes but the acidity and freshness of the Chardonnay is testament to the cooling powers of a bit of water. The winery is now a heady blend of stainless steel and aromatic fermentation - there's nothing quite like it. Deciding when to pick the grapes is a perennial fight between sugar and acidity. Tasting the grapes is the key for me since each year the flavours arrive at different sugar levels. So I spend a lot of time walking up and down rows of vines. Sometime I find some friends to accompany me. As you can see it's tiring work.... So as we set off for the vineyards I asked the team what they thought the song of the vintage would be. Each vintage there ends up one song or album (as we used to say in those carefree days before downloads) that sort of encapsulates all those hours you spend looking after grapes. It's sometimes a current song but more often than not it's a golden oldie. George the Chief Viticulturist took the question to heart and decided that Elvis was the way to go. I didn't have the heart to tell him that he couldn't nominate a song that it choses itself. So he duly dug out his Elvis CD and we started off for the vineyards on a day that promised to top 35 degrees with Elvis' dulcet tones belting out Silent Night, swiftly followed by O Little Town of Bethlehem. Bizarre doesn't even begin to cover it. And we stayed with Elvis ALL DAY LONG...... An amused team listening to the first of many Elvis numbers. But soon the Macedonian Elvis tribute band had to do some work and it was off to collect samples and taste grapes.
It's always fascinating to see the flavours develop in the berries. No one flavour is 'better' than another but a blend of different flavours makes for a more complex wine. This year the newer block of Chardonnay had the riper, more melon flavours even though the sugar levels indicated it was classically less ripe. While the older block retained the zesty, citrus flavours. I look forward to blending all the components later in the year. The Vranec for the red wine is no way near ready to pick but for the rose is not far off. For the reds we have to wait until the sugar level rises and the tannins in the skin become ripe else the wine will be bitter. While for the rose the juice is barely in contact with the skins (just enough to get that lovely pink colour) and we want a fresher, lighter wine so we pick earlier. We should be starting the rose some time next week but this week it's the Chardonnay. As ever the excitement of the first grapes is palpable. As more pickers arrive in the area the grapes will be coming in thick and fast. In a few days the Muscat, then the Riesling by which time the avalanche of grapes will have well and truly begun and another vintage will be in full swing. I'll report back on the reds in a month or so....Written by Jo Ahearne; Master of Wine, for Signature Wines Ltd.