Viticulture, Grape Harvesting & Micro-Batch Blending

Through the agrarian cycle of winemaking, ending with a bottle you blended yourself.

Booking now
Each session5 hr a session
How oftenOnce a week
Cohort10–14 per cohort
SeasonAugust – October · the harvest window decides the dates

What you leave with

Your own micro-batch blend, bottled, waxed and labelled by you

Canopy management, dawn harvest picking, crushing and destemming, fermentation, and sensory barrel blending, alongside estate winemakers.

The final session is a blending workshop with graduated cylinders and single-varietal base wines. You leave with bottles you formulated, corked and waxed.

What makes this one worth it

  • Terroir, Soil Chemistry & Canopy Management
  • First Light Harvest & Crush Pad Operations
  • Fermentation Dynamics, Punch Downs & Yeast Biology
  • Sensory Blending Workshop & Bottle Waxing

What is included

  • All 4 sessions of the 4-week cohort — 20 hours of instruction
  • A place held for you for the whole run, in a cohort of 10–14
  • Every piece of equipment listed below, provided on the day
  • Your instructor, and their attention in a group this size

What to bring

  • Water, and something to eat if you want it
  • Nothing else — the kit is provided

How it runs

Once a week · 5 hr a session

Frequency
1x / week — 4 to 7 hours, depending on the session
Session length
5 hr
Each month
4 sessions, about 20 hours
Cohort size
10 – 14 participants
Where
Estate vineyard rows, crush pad, and barrel cellar
Level
All Levels
Commitment
Monthly — stay as long as it is worth it

What you cover, in rotation

The group works through these in order and then begins again on fresh ground. Join at whatever stage it is on — nothing here assumes you were there for the last one, and nothing runs out — or drop in for a single session if that is all you can manage.

  1. Stage 1Terroir, Soil Chemistry & Canopy Management
    • Decomposed granite soils, maritime breeze and diurnal temperature shifts.
    • Leaf pulling, shoot positioning and crop thinning.
    • Measuring ripeness: refractometer Brix, total acidity and pH.
  2. Stage 2First Light Harvest & Crush Pad Operations
    • Harvesting fruit by hand at dawn with grape shears.
    • Sorting bunches to remove unripe berries and material other than grape.
    • Operating destemmer-crushers and preparing must for fermentation.
  3. Stage 3Fermentation Dynamics, Punch Downs & Yeast Biology
    • Cap management with manual punch downs and pump-overs.
    • Native wild fermentation against cultured wine yeasts.
    • Malolactic fermentation and oak barrel ageing profiles.
  4. Stage 4Sensory Blending Workshop & Bottle Waxing
    • Sensory evaluation of Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Grenache base wines.
    • Formulating custom micro-batch blends with graduated cylinders.
    • Bottling, corking, hand-waxing and personal label design.

4 sessions in the cycle, then it begins again on new ground.

Who leads it, and what is provided

Led by Estate winemaker / viticulturalist.

Technical winemaking instruction, cellar safety, and sensory blending guidance.

On the table when you arrive

  • Grape harvesting shears
  • Refractometers and hydrometers
  • Blending cylinders
  • Bottles, corks and sealing wax

Before you book

Know before you go

  • 21+ — this experience includes tasting throughout
  • Session two starts at dawn, because the fruit does

Not recommended for

  • Under-21s

Cancellations and refunds follow our cancellation policy, which is the same for every activity on this site.

When it runs

August 2026

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Runs Not running

Sunday 9 August

  • 10amup to 14 guests

Usually runs Sundays.

This is the operator’s schedule, not live seat availability. We check the date with them and come back to you — nothing is booked or paid for here.

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