WINERY
Our winery was built in the summer of 2001–2002 and blends modern equipment with traditional winemaking techniques. This balance helps us capture the true character of the fruit grown in our vineyard and carry it through to every bottle.
Everything happens right here on site, so we can focus on every detail and make sure the quality stays exceptional from start to finish.
WHITE WINES
The grapes for our white wines are either hand or machine picked and transported the short distance to the winery for rapid chilling and processing.
In the case of hand picked whites, the fruit stays in each individual crate overnight within a chilled room to bring down the berry temperature and eliminate the arduous chilling process normally required at the point of crushing.
The juice is cold settled for 48 hours prior to removing the solids and the commencing temperature controlled fermentation.
Where appropriate, selected parcels of Chardonnay, Semillon, and Sauvignon Blanc are fermented and/or matured in French oak barriques to provide added structure and complexity.
Oak selection is a very personal thing for winemakers and the style of a wooded chardonnay or white blend is impacted significantly by the quality and suitability of oak for the wine in question.
Our whites consistently exhibit delightful fresh and lively fruit flavours balanced with crisp acidity and deliver a delicious, lingering, dry finish.
RED WINES
Red fruit is also picked both by hand and machine depending on the quality of the fruit or the trellis system in the vineyard.
Machine harvesting is not possible on the intensive open lyre trellis design. On selected parcels chilling may be employed before a long cold soak at the start of a ferment, however the typical approach is to crush to a small open fermenter and inoculate with yeast immediately.
Fermentation of all our red wines is carried out in either five or nine ton open fermenters with no closed or reductive style ferments undertaken.
Fermenting wine is drained completely away from the skins and returned back twice daily over a seven to fourteen day period before a decision is made that the level of extraction is ideal.
Gentle pressing is then undertaken to avoid over extraction and harsh tannins.
All wines spend between nine and twenty months in a range of new and older French oak barriques or puncheons.
Tremendous varietal character, excellent balance and complexity, subtle oak and a lovely soft tannin finish typify Forester’s reds.
