Janene and I thought we’d be lounging on a beach in Far North Queensland this winter,

offering pruning advice over the phone to the new owner of Mount Terrible.

You should never make predictions. Especially about the future…

Though we hadn’t expected it’d be us running it, the 2025 vintage went well. On the second

weekend in March we picked 3 tonnes of Chardonnay, all of which, apart from a small patch

of mildew in Russ and Jules’ vineyard, was in excellent condition.

We put the grapes through Grant’s rotary bag press and conducted the ferment in barrel. I’m

keeping an eye on progress. but anticipate the wine will be ready for bottling sometime

around Christmas.

From our beloved Mount Terrible vineyard we got 5 tonnes of beautiful fruit.

It would have made great Pinot, but we had decided to give the whole vintage over to Rose.

Pinot, the way we make it, requires around eighteen months in barrel, and then at least

another year sleeping in the cellar before it is ready to drink. With everything that’s been

going on I could not commit to what is essentially a three-year process. Rose’s quick and

easy to make.

Or so I’ve always thought. This time however, for reasons entirely beyond me, my best laid

plans ganged majorly agley. After a 24-hour cold soak, the must, when I bled it off skins, was

redder than it was meant to be. Then, against all expectation, the ferment stuck – stopped

effervescing, ceased to progress – with around 1.5% sugar still unfermented. You can make

Rose with residual sugar, some people like it that way, but my strong preference is for a dry

Provencal style. So, gritting my teeth, I embarked on the unutterably tedious getting-a-stuck-

ferment-going-again procedure. Wondrous to relate, it worked. We have ended up with a

pinker than usual, but still acceptably pale, Rose, which is fully dry but has deliciously

intense fruit. In short, it is the best Rose I have ever made.

And the vineyard? I am sorry to say over winter we removed all but a thousand of our vines.

The view will never be the same again.

It saddens me to look at these Now-you-see-it, Now-you-don’t images.

But it’s not all bad. Compared with five acres, looking after a mere thousand vines will be a

walk in the park. And we’re not talking any old vines, these are the best and most productive

in the vineyard. I remember a conversation I once had over dinner with Bass Phillip’s

curmudge– I mean legendary - Phillip Jones, in the course of which he advised me to uproot

my most vigorous vines and leave only the struggling ones. Thanks, Phillip, but I’m going to

keep on doing what I have been doing for the last 30 years. I will have time to pay

meticulous attention to shoot thinning and vine nutrition, and with a smaller parcel of perfect

grapes, I can lavish more care on the nuances of winemaking. The best wines are produced

in small quantities.

We currently have three years’ worth of wine in the cellar. The 2022 Pinot just got 95 points

from Jeni Port,

as did the 2024 Chardonnay. The 2023 Pinot has just been bottled; I am extremely pleased

with it and will be releasing it early. We will peg the price of these vintages at $45 for the

Pinot and Chardonnay and $25 for the Rose.

But in years to come, as our boutique enterprise becomes positively bijou, the price will

increase and limits may have to be placed on sales.