The end of the calendar year tends to feel quite chaotic for many winery operations.
That’s why Denise Gardner Winemaking offers two end-of-year planning tools to keep your winemaking focused and in a positive direction. Both of these tools are now open to all individuals that read this blog.
Don’t forget to review the harvest season
Taking just 30 minutes to review the past harvest season can save time and resources prior to starting the next year’s harvest. With that in mind, I strongly encourage everyone to do some post-harvest assessments.
Last month, I introduced the Post-Harvest Review Checklist, which is now open content to all. Please feel free to use this guide to help you review how the 2022 harvest year went for your winemaking team.
Create a winemaking focus for 2023
As we know, the next year will fly by. Before we know it, another vintage will be ahead of us.
That is why DGW releases the Winemaking Goals and Ambitions Worksheet at the start of each calendar year with general, open access for everyone! This worksheet is designed to set yourself and your cellar team up for winemaking success!
Taking some time to document your winemaking goals may feel insignificant, but this practice can:
- visualize work for the upcoming season,
- help a winemaker identify opportunities for growth,
- focus on areas of need, and
- reflect upon successes to build upon in the next year.
Before you know it, pruning season will be long past, new green growth will be on the vines, and we’ll be counting down days to the start of the 2023 harvest… probably rushing to get last year’s wines bottled.
It is easy to get far into the daily routine and forget to take some time and reflect.
This included reflection practice can help you identify what new wines you want to make in 2023 (and plan for their creation now!), what new practices you would like to try to complete in the cellar, and devote some time to those aspirations. After all, this is how winemakers improve year after year.
The 2023 Winemaking Goals Worksheet offers you a space to reflect upon. This guide will help you evaluate the 2022 harvest season and guide you in:
• What winemaking challenges you may have experienced last vintage? (Examples: logistical bottlenecks, lack of enough personnel help, insufficient yield without adequate wine storage, generation of hydrogen sulfide in multiple tanks of wine, etc.) This gets the challenges written down to create the visual reminder of what needs accomplished in 2023.
• What current trends interest you as a winemaker? (Examples: produce a pét-nat with estate fruit, create a red sparkling wine, analyzing YAN or other juice/wine components, minimal input winemaking, etc.) This will help create focus for the various educational opportunities that may arise in 2023. Knowing what you need can help you identify where to allocate your time in the next year.
• What goals you may have for the new vintage? (Examples: empty 60% of wines stored in tanks, integrate off-season production of a fruit wine or hard cider, learn how to blend red wines in barrel, improve barrel storage conditions, integrate tank temperature control, etc.)
At the end of the worksheet, you will find a series of “Next Steps” packed with suggestions and resources that can guide you in the right direction through the remainder of the year. There’s also a table designed to organize a wish list of desired enology items or winemaking equipment you would like to look into for the near future.
Anyone can access and download the 2023 Winemaking Goals Worksheet, a tool to assist you in organizing your year ahead.
Need Assistance in Turning Those Goals into Reality?
I love getting an opportunity to turn my clients’ goals into a reality for them.
If you know you want to start conquering your winemaking ambitions in 2023, and become a part of a positive, growing, winemaking community, inquire today about our Membership and Client options by emailing info@dgwinemaking.com.
You can also review current membership and client package options, here.
