The 2018 Vintage:
a really good season. Someone must have told the vines how close they got to being bulldozed when I went temporarily blind last year. The...
- Aug 5, 2018
Best Vintage Ever
We thought 2015 was a very good year, but we have only just realised how good. The grapes were handpicked and sorted and chilled...
- Apr 20, 2018
The 2017 Vintage
Twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen: five good vintages in a row. I was getting nervous. But on Saturday March 18 we picked 6...
- Apr 20, 2018
Vineyard skies
Where the Gods live, obviously…
- Apr 19, 2018
Grant's Inventions
Everybody knows specialised winemaking equipment is going to be expensive. Planting a vineyard and building a winery, you can save a fair...
- Apr 19, 2018
Smoke Taint
In 2007 and again in 2009 we did not make any wine because the vineyard was blanketed with smoke from bushfires. Noxious chemicals in...
- Apr 19, 2018
Does pruning cause madness?
It probably isn’t a good idea to be writing newsletters in mid-winter. Pruning day in day out doesn’t put you in the sunniest frame of...
- Apr 19, 2018
2016 Vintage
The season got off to a bad start: a hard frost later than any previously recorded in this district. I remember waking up on the morning...
- Apr 19, 2018
Seven kilometres of nets
If we didn’t cover the grapes with fully occlusive netting they would all be eaten by Little Ravens, Currawongs and Bower Birds. The job...
- Apr 19, 2018
The Hedger
It’s five feet long and it takes no prisoners, but it beats the hell out of a week with secateurs.
- Jan 12, 2018
Vertical tasting release...
I was consolidating pallets in the cellar the other week when I came across 12 cases of my first vintage, the 06, that weren’t supposed...
- Aug 15, 2016
Vintage 2015...
was the culmination of a very good season. A wet winter ushered in a mild spring with below average rainfall. Generally dry conditions...
- Aug 15, 2016
Bad language...
We went to a famous restaurant recently. $350 a head degustation with matched wines. Appalling extravagance, but a friend knew the owner...
- Aug 15, 2016
Roman Feast
Hey! Hey! (or if we’re striving after authenticity: Ohe! Ohe! or Eia! Eia! or possibly even Age! Age! ): as part of the 2015 Melbourne...
- Aug 15, 2016
The Emperor would like to have you for dinner...
Stop Press. As part of the 2015 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, we will be hosting a Roman Feast with authentic 2,000 year old Roman...
- Aug 15, 2016
2014 Vintage
In spring 2013 a series of late frosts burnt newly-burst buds in many parts of the state. We escaped that. Bud-burst here is later than...
- Aug 15, 2016
The Chook...
Though the lyrebird whose call used to enliven my working day has gone to his eternal reward, he is not forgotten. Craig Eury cut this...
- Aug 15, 2016
2013 Vintage
The 2013 vintage went well – by comparison with the 2011 (rain!) and 2012 (wasps!@**#!!!) very well. We picked on March 16th under...
- Aug 15, 2016
Mission Statement...
The reasons are too complex to go into here, but it is widely accepted all businesses today must have a Mission Statement. For far too...
- Aug 15, 2016
A cowardly attack on our security staff.
It is with sadness we report a vicious and unprovoked attack on a loyal and long-serving member of the Mount Terrible security staff. The...