Sue Hewitt visits a vineyard where budding sommeliers are reaping more than an angel’s share of success
The nectar of the gods starts on the fertile hills of Eden Park, where the first burst of grape buds is full of promise. The vines are planted in grids according to variety, the limbs twisted around wire to form greentopped T-shapes.
It looks like a typical vineyard, with regimental lines crossing the slopes in rows and tended by heavy, commercial machinery. But the vineyard is an open-air classroom for Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE (NMIT) and the winemakers who choose from this crop are anything but vintage.
They are novices in an age-old craft and have a burning passion to produce wine that will make sommeliers smile.
NMIT has a long, award-winning history in viticulture, offering short courses through to degrees at its campuses, including Epping and Eden Park, and through online programs.
The head of NMIT’s viticulture programs is Dr Alastair Reed, a youthful academic who can’t hide his excitement when it comes to discussing wine.
His reflection dances off the shiny, stainlesssteel vats that dominate the institute’s multimillion- dollar commercial winemaking and bottling facility in Epping. A huge grape crusher churns through tonnes of grapes.
But Reed has not turned his back on the old ways of winemaking and the facility’s socio-cultural setting.
‘‘We are in the northern suburbs where there is a do-it-yourself winemaking culture and we respect that,’’ he says. ‘‘The residents have their own traditions and embrace timehonoured winemaking techniques that we can learn from.’’
A simple example is the traditional juice extraction method. Last year a student chose the old way of treading on grapes to get the juice for their wine.
‘‘Sarah, an online student from Geelong, came in to the Epping campus for four days last year, took off her shoes and foot-stomped the grapes,” Reed says.
NMIT is no backyard wine-making venture. Its commercial winemaking centre can process 100 tonnes of grapes and produce a top-quality drop.
Students’ wines have received numerous accolades since NMIT produced its first vintage in 1998.
The wines have won gold, silver and bronze medals across Australia, including a mention at the Royal Melbourne Show in the revered Jimmy Watson awards, in honour of the late wine bar owner from Lygon Street in Carlton.
The students learn everything about their craft, from cultivation and harvesting through to processing and then bottling, labelling and marketing.
The Bachelor of Viticulture and Winemaking has grown from a small, boutique degree to one of the largest in Australia.
And because it blends online learning with face-to face teaching, the course has opened up to students all around Australia. There are about 100 students on board for short courses up to certificates and degrees.
Long before a drop of wine reaches a glass, the students visit NMIT’s Eden Park campus near Whittlesea to learn about the properties of the grapes and the timing of the harvest.
Research scientist Sara White says the sugar content, or baume, varies depending on when the grapes are picked and it affects the alcohol level of the wine.
‘‘A big red is 15 baume,’’ she says. ‘‘But we also pick grapes early to prevent the sugar increasing.’’ Students sample grapes throughout the growing season to monitor sugar and acid levels, and inspect for disease to determine whether grapes should be picked sooner or later.
Other influences such as smoke from bushfires can affect the grapes, and therefore the quality of the wine.
‘‘It’s called smoke taint; grapes absorb the smoke and after 30 minutes of thick smoke it leaves a taste like a stale ashtray,’’ White says.
Grapes grown at NMIT vineyards are supplemented with fruit from commercial vineyards.
They are crushed, generally using a commercial crusher, although some students use a traditional basket press – a bin-shaped press with open slats on the side and a collection tray with a funnel to run the juice into a container.
A handle on top turns the press down.
‘‘It’s very labour intensive, but the more you press, the better it is as there are more tannins,’’ says Reed.
To create a full-bodied red wine, the grape skins are left in with the juice to develop strong tannins.
The skins are removed to create a crisp white wine.
Students choose the style of fermentation containers, from towering steel vats to fullbottomed glass bottles or oak barrels.
French oak barrels, which cost $1500 each, are built from 200-year-old timber, while American oak barrels cost $500.
Each imparts a distinctive flavour to the fermenting wine.
A commercial bottling line allows the students’ wines to be professionally presented with labels designed by fellow NMIT art students.
In educating the students’ palates, NMIT buys tainted wine and dilutes it by degrees until even the slightest hint of it can be tasted.
Winemaker and NMIT lecturer Karen Coulston says cork taint has been eliminated by the use of screw top lids.
Oxidation, caused by evaporation allowing oxygen into the top of the barrel during fermentation, is a problem.
The amount that evaporates is called the angel’s share and is said to be the amount of wine an angel takes from a fermenting wine barrel in return for vineyard blessings and other good deeds.
But the process leaves an air pocket above fermenting grape juice that can lead to oxidisation of the wine and a spoilt batch.
The angel’s share can turn the nectar of the gods into vinegar.
Details: visit nmit.edu.au/studyareas/ viticulture_and_winemaking
1 2,3,4 NMIT students bottle, harvest and taste the wine 5 Hard at work at the Eden Park vineyard 6 Research scientist Sara White at the Epping laboratory
