Episode: 1
Title: Viticulture and Winemaking
Broadcast: June 11 2017
Presenter: Scott Taylor

Scott loves nothing more than enjoying a great glass of wine and there really is an art to producing every variety and style…this is what today’s journey is all about!

• How those superior French wine makers get the bubbles in the bottle is a pretty closely guarded secret and Scott is going to get to the bottom of it at Myattsfield Vineyard.
• It’s called methode champenoise. It’s technical and takes a long time but it really does bring a whole new layer, a whole new dimension of texture and verve and creaminess and flavour.
• Here at Myattsfield estate, they’ve been right at the forefront of wine making. They’ve been known for the use of known-mainstream European wine varieties, but it’s their sparking wines that have got the Aussie wine industry sitting up and taking notice.
• Owned and operated by Rachel and Josh Davenport, together they run Myattsfield estate, starting the business 20 years ago, exploring different wine making styles, before settling their family here.
• Basically, methode champenoise is a secondary fermentation, conducted in bottle, with yeast.
• It ferments, creating carbon dioxide, which gets trapped in the bottle, creating bubbles and overtime it breaks down to give those yeasty, bready, vegemite characters that you get in the end product.
• It then goes through a process of riddling and disgorging to get it ready for the market place.
• Here at Myattsfield, the vineyard disgorges about 24,000 bottles a year! They really are professionals. Myattsfield even has disgorging programs and workshops but now it’s Scott’s turn.
• Once the yeast is gone, the last step of the process is to add a dosage or a little bit of sugar liqueur to balance out the acid and finesse the wine.

MyattsField Vineyards
P: (08) 9293 5567
W: www.myattsfield.com.au