After the vineyard team has completed the harvest, the winery takes over. This is where those meticulously cared-for grapes are turned into delicious wine.

When the grapes arrive, they are immediately sorted. While the vineyard team does an incredible job of removing damaged bunches, this early step at the winery is critical. We sort the grapes over large tables, removing anyMOG (Material Other than Grapes)that may have slipped through, including leaves, stalks, or even bugs.

In Tasmania, for example, Portuguese Millipedes often seek shelter in grape bunches, and these little critters must be removed by hand to keep them from tainting the final wine. The sorting tables vibrate to ensure every grape can be seen and to let any juice from prematurely crushed grapes drain away, which prevents "oxygen-saturated" juice from affecting the final wine.

While advancements in technology have led to automatic sorting tables, we still believe that a well-trained eye is the best tool for this job.

The Crush and Beyond

Once sorting is complete, it’s on to the crush for our white wines. At Pooley Wines, we usewhole bunch crushing, a method that keeps the vibrant fruit characters and aromatics in the finished wine by minimizing oxygen contact before fermentation begins. This can be done by machine or manually, depending on the desired outcome.

Manual crushing, or foot stomping, dates back to ancient Greece and Rome. This method can be gentler on the grapes and their seeds, avoiding some bitter compounds from entering the wine. However, the predictable and even pressure of a modern mechanical press is a crucial tool for our winemakers.