Harvest 2019 - the pick

We have just completed Vintage 2019 - a very busy time across the vineyards!

The process of vintage might seem mysterious, but for organic, low intervention wineries like us, most of the work is done throughout the season, with fermentation beginning naturally with yeasts that live in the vineyard.

An advantage of having 19 vineyards across in three different villages and various vine age between 3-38 years old, means that each parcel ripens at different times over 3-week vintage. So, we use a flexible local picking team to respond as soon as the grapes are ready.

 As well as certified organic vineyards, LEVIN Wines is certified organic in the winery. Since we are organic, we can’t introduce any chemical inputs to cover up any mistakes!

 We take a clean, ‘new world’ approach in the winery to allow the characters of the fruit to be fully expressed. That is why out winery looks like an Aussie tin shed – it is a replica of the Shaw + Smith winery in South Australia.

 We work with our Loire-born, organic winemaker, Emmanuel Bienvenu to decide on picking and approaches in the winery driven by physiological ripeness, flavour and the biodynamic calendar (fruit and leaf days).