Vintage is almost done. The weather is cooling down (not quite snowy yet!) & we were chuffed to see we've been included in the @therealrvw Top Wineries for 2024!

We'd love to welcome you this weekend to taste our wines at cellar door. Bookings via link in bio

...#rikardwines #orangewineregion #orange360allyearround #orangefoodweek #minimalinterventionwine #iconicsmallbatchwines

Vintage 2024 @ RIKARD: early start means an early end. As the harvest draws to a close, we’ve made space to re-open wine tasting earlier!

From this Saturday 6th April, the winery is open to share our wines with you and all our stories from soil to bottle with wine tasting experiences in ...the place where we make our wines.

Book ahead online or call us so we know to save you a seat. Link in bio.

If you’re in town this weekend - you’ll see Kimberley and Carine at the Orange FOOD week night markets pouring your favourite RIKARD wines.
The markets have been moved to the Naylor Pavilion at the Showgrounds, due to weather. Head to @orangefoodweek for all the details.

We’re looking forward to seeing you soon! 🍷

#rikardwines #iconicsmallbatchwines #orangensw #orangewineregion #orange360_allyearround #orangefoodweek #orange360

Vintage 2024 @ RIKARD: the stars aligned for our last pick of the harvest. Our small Shiraz vineyard, Amboseli sits at almost 900m above sea level and is a place where we see the rewards of our work in the vineyard in every drop.
This year we pruned late, after budburst so the vines would ...re-shoot. We wanted to see if we could manipulate the vines to put us a few weeks behind, so we would harvest in late March and not February.
It worked perfectly - taking advantage of the late summer’s warm sunny days and our best canopy at this vineyard yet - vertical vines, airflow, sunlight and a perfectly weighted, even crop. Our biggest tonnage from Amboseli and beautiful dark fruit.

Harvested in the sunrise with a full moon overhead, now in fermenters in the winery with our smallest Rikard-Bell on the crush and proud to have Shiraz hands like her dad!

#rikardwines #iconicsmallbatchwines #orangensw #vintage2024 #orangewineregion #rikardshiraz #orange360_allyearround #orange360

Vintage 2024 @ RIKARD: the pretty Pinot pick.
A healthy crop of Pinot Noir, with our ever strengthening vines thriving in the warm conditions and achieving lovely ripeness.

Some beautiful aromatics coming off the fermenters at the moment. We’ve split the pick into two ferments, one ...with 30% and the other 50% whole bunches. Plunging twice a day.

#rikardwines #iconicsmallbatchwines #orangensw #vintage2024 #orangewineregion #rikardpinotnoir #orange360_allyearround

Vintage 2024 @ RIKARD: happiness is the highest. Riesling picks at 1080m above sea level. Best crop we’ve had from up here at our resurrection vineyard. Vines showing better vigour and health because of the hard work and attention throughout the year.

Some lovely musk and floral ...characters in the skins when eating these (don’t worry, we’ve got plenty for wines as you can see). Riesling pick featuring Brenda and Tom!
We’re planning to ferment wild in large oak, with a small portion on skins.

#rikardwines #iconicsmallbatchwines #vintage2024 #orangensw #rikardriesling #orangewineregion #orange360_allyearround #orange360

Easter weekend wine tasting @ RIKARD.

We’re open Easter Saturday 30th March & Easter Monday 1st April for a wine tasting.
Join us at the winery, amongst the fermenters, press and barrels for a mid harvest experience with the makers of the wine.

Book ahead online, so we... can save you a seat!

#rikardwines #iconicsmallbatchwines #orangensw #orangewineregion

Vintage 2024 @ RIKARD: we haven’t experienced a vintage quite like this yet in Orange; it’s early, yes, and we’ve seen those before.
But early usually indicates a warmer season, faster sugar accumulation, slightly undeveloped phenological ripeness and lower natural acids - not this year!...

This year it’s beautiful flavours, no disease, lovely ripeness at lower sugars and strong acid retention in the juice.

Chardonnay seems to be the star of the show, so far. We’ve seen some amazingly tasty bins of fruit come into the winery in the last two weeks, all from our lower vineyard sites at 850m. We expect the cooler sites above 950m to be ready within a fortnight.

Plenty of fruit still to come. We’re maybe a third of the way through. It’s all shaping up beautifully.

#rikardwines #iconicsmallbatchwines #orangensw #orangewineregion #vintage2024 #orange360_allyearround #nswwine

Vintage24 @ RIKARD: the very good looking room.

Its beginning to look a lot like vintage with the barrel room starting fill up. We still have lots on the floor as the Chardonnay ferments are foaming and have just met a new reptilian supervisor!

#rikardwines #iconicsmallbatchwines ...#orangewineregion #orangensw #orange360_allyearround #vintage24 #rikardchardonnay

Vintage24 @ RIKARD: rising with the sun.

Why are we up this early?
Starting early to pick in the vineyard, so the fruit is cooler, pickers are fresher and it allows us the time and opportunity to process fruit in the afternoon (if need be).

Morning picks allow the winery time... to process the (refrigerated) fruit from the previous day first thing in the morning before the next vineyard pick.

We’re refrigerating fruit overnight so that the fruit is processed cold the next day and whites will settle better after pressing.
The reds can cold soak on skins and have more time to absorb water-soluble components before alcohol gets high and the colour is often better.

It’s also the best time of day to say “how’s the serenity” and marvel at how great it is to be immersed in vintage at the top of the mountain.

#rikardwines #iconicsmallbatchwines #orangensw #vintage24 #orangewineregion #coolclimatewines #orange360_allyearround