Our winemaking philosophy at VOFT wines is traditional techniques with the use of open fermenters, hand plunging, basket pressing, minimal handling and bottling without fining or filtration to produce a wine with intense fruit and oak character.

Vintage 2007:

Yarra Valley Shiraz for the Voft Wine Series was hand picked on Friday 23rd of March, it was a hot day reaching 38 degrees in the late afternoon. The grapes were picked in the early morning before the heat of the day set in and after transportation to our winery site the grapes were allowed to cool over night before processing. Saturday the 24th March was the first day of processing for Voft Wines. The open fermenters, crusher and pump equipment was cleaned and sterilised ready to use. Aproximately 1.3 tonne of Shiraz fruit was crushed into 2 open fermenters and hand plunged. Crushing results yield starting parameters: 12.9 Baume, 3.62pH, 6.15g/L Tartaric Acid and 18 degrees celcius. The fermentations were acid adjusted to lower the pH to around 3.5 to allow better long term stability of the wine and avoid pH increase during fermentation. The grapes were then inocculated with a commercial yeast strain BP725 which aids in the development of aroma and flavour in Shiraz. We also used a fermentation Aid called GOferm which helps keep the yeast happy during fermentation as alcohol levels rise and ensuring we have a complete and steady fermentation so no residual sugar remains. The fermentation was then hand plunged every hour for 16 hours a day to help keep the skins moist and aid in colour and flavour extraction. By Saturday the 31st March the Shiraz fermentations had reached completion after 7 days. The skin cap had now sunk back into the wine and the fermentation temperatures had dropped to 15 degrees. The fermentations were covered and allowed to have a short period of post ferment maceration on skins before pressing. We allowed the wine to stay on skins for 5 days after the completion of fermentation to extract more alcoholic souble tannins which aid in the maturation process and help with wine stability and increase the antioxidant potential. The wines are made without the use of sulphur as we wish to take a more natural approach to winemaking and not affect the colour, aroma, and flavour potential as the addition of sulphur reduces the intensity of these charracters. The Shiraz ferements were then basket pressed by hand into a single Vat for mixing and uniformity. The skins were allowed to stand in a vat overnight and then re-pressed the next day. The wine now a single fermentation blend and ready for permanent separation. Before separation we innoculated the wine with Lactic acid bacteria to allow the secondary fermentation of malic acid to lactic acid in the wine. The wine was then racked off into 3 barrrels and one stainless steel tank for maturation. From this point on the wine will never be together again. The wine was allowed to undergo MLF in barrel which wasn't complete until 4 months later. The cellar gets very cold in winter and slows the rate MLF has with temperatures between 7-12 degrees celcius during this time. With the arrival of spring in September and warmer weather about the cellar temperature slowly increases over the coming months to around 16-22 degrees. This rise allows for a more compact settling and greater clarity of wine. It is at this point we chose to proceed with a virgin racking of MLF lees and give the wine a slight aeration before maturation continues. On the 10th of december after aproximately 8 months barrel maturation each trial barrel was individually racked and returned to its barrel during which time the barrel was cleaned and all lees and solids removed. Wine tasting notes are available on the tastings page. The wine will now remain in oak for the duration of maturation with 1-2 more rackings before bottling. The wine is estimated to spend between 18-24 months in oak prior to bottling.

Yarra Valley Cabernet sauvignon was hand picked on the 16th and 17th of April 2007 and transported to the winery site. Daily temperature was aproximately 17 degrees celcius so cooling of the fruit before processing was not required. The grapes were processed in the same manner as the Shiraz. Around 1.3 tonnes of Cabernet Sauvignon was crushed into 2 open fermenters and plunged. Crushing results yield starting parameters: 12.8 Baume, 3.42pH, 7.5g/L Tartaric Acid and 16 degrees celcius. The fermentation acid required no adjustment as the pH was <3.5 already to allow better long term stability of the wine and avoid pH increase during fermentation. The grapes were then inocculated with a commercial yeast strain AWRI 796 which aids in the development of varietal characters and colour. We also used a fermentation Aid called GOferm which helps keep the yeast happy during fermentation as alcohol levels rise and ensuring we have a complete and steady fermentation so no residual sugar remains. The fermentation was then hand plunged every hour for 16 hours a day to help keep the skins moist and aid in colour and flavour extraction. By Thursday the 26th April the Cabernet Sauvignon fermentations had reached completion after 10 days. The skin cap had now sunk back into the wine and the fermentation temperatures had dropped to 13 degrees. The fermentations were covered and allowed to have a short period of post ferment maceration on skins before pressing. We allowed the wine to stay on skins for 3 days after the completion of fermentation to extract more alcoholic soluble tannins which aid in the maturation process and help with wine stability and increase antioxidant potential. The wines are made without the use of sulphur as we wish to take a more natural approach to winemaking and not affect the colour, aroma, and flavour potential as the addition of sulphur reduces the intensity of these charracters. The Cabernet Sauvignon ferements were then basket pressed by hand into a single Vat for mixing and uniformity. The skins were allowed to stand in a vat overnight and then re-pressed the next day. The wine is now a single fermentation blend and ready for permanent separation. Before separation we innoculated the wine with Lactic acid bacteria to allow the secondary fermentation of malic acid to lactic acid in the wine. The wine was then racked off into 3 barrrels and one stainless steel tank for maturation. from this point on the wine will never be together again. The wine was allowed to undergo MLF in barrel which wasn't complete until 6 months later. The cellar gets very cold in winter and slows the rate MLF has with temperatures between 7-12 degrees celcius during this time. With the arrival of spring in September and warmer weather about the cellar temperature slowly increases over the coming months to around 16-22 degrees. this rise allows for a more compact settling and greater clarity of wine. It is at this point we chose to proceed with a virgin racking of MLF lees and give the wine a slight aeration before maturation continues. On the 10th of december aproximately 7 months barrel maturation each trial barrel was individually racked and returned to its barrel during which time the barrel was cleaned and all lees and solids removed. Wine tasting notes are available on the tastings page. The wine will remain in oak for the duration of maturation with 1-2 more rackings before bottling. The wine is estimated to spend between 18-24 months in oak prior to bottling. Minimal handling is important with both varieties as without the use of sulphur the wine is more fragile and the utmost care must be taken to protect the wine throughout maturation. The wine is cellared in low temperatures 12-18 degrees and a high level of humidty (70%) to reduce evaporation. The barrels and topped every 2 weeks during maturation and regualry tasted to maintain quality assurance. Further details can be obtained by contacting Reon via reon@voftwines.com.au