Is the waxeye an Aussie bird? It must be - They're so vandalistic. They're incredible, like they've got something against winegrowers. Apparently they came to NZ in 1832 - probably kicked out of Australia for doing too much damage.
Anyway they did a lot of damage to some of our crop this year. We lost about 10% of our 114 which is side netted. It also took us hours to sort through the bird pecked berries to make sure volatile acid (VA) wouldn't spread through the ferment. The bird banger started going slow in the last week before harvest and I didn't have enough time to shoot. So next year we're splashing out again and buying more over row nets.
The worst thing about these birds is that they don't eat the berries. They put a hole in them, lick the juice then go to the next berry. The problem is the open wound, which the bees and flies get into and introduce bacteria to the juice, starting the VA process.
Maybe it's our version of the Burgundy bot?
So we finished harvest - a pretty low crop. So far the wine looks good and concentrated. Will taste once dry - probably next week.
Ian
No comments:
Post a Comment