That time of year.

You don’t get through the year without coming across harvest. That inevitable moment and our reason for being. When the vines finally put out and you embrace the sweetness they deliver with welcoming arms wide open.

It’s romantic — if you like early starts and late finishes. It’s exciting — if you like hard graft and taking a gamble.

We finished our national road trip (so ridiculously ‘on brand’ we couldn’t have planned it better) and arrived back on the ranch just in time to grab the secateurs with Ali and our vintage recruits.

At this time of year four extra layers of clothing are required before 8am. Singlet and shorts are all that’s left by midday. But that’s Bannockburn.

Neighbours are busy too but still find time to check out, chat about and debate progress. This is a serious business. This is serious wine country.

This is a seriously bloody brilliant and rewarding time of year.

All of this effort and all of these months of working towards this moment. A moment that will be bottled and tasted sometime down the line, some years away hopefully with good food and good friends. So as we bring in the fruit of the future, here is how we celebrate the past.