Monday 16 July 2012

It's a cold winter

It's winter here so the vineyard jobs are pruning, pruning, and more pruning.
It's winter here so the vineyard jobs are pruning, pruning, and more pruning. In the winery we are really busy filtering and blending the new vintage wine. The vines don’t usually get a frost as bad as this month but we have had some real wintery weather here. Typically the frost disappears by morning light but recently it has stayed around a little longer, as you can see from the pictures. The morning temperature reached -4 degrees Celsius. That is cold!  The vines will be fine it's just the workers who need a little warming up. Even the Geese were chilly, looking for shelter and finding it next to our Cellar door.



Thursday 21 June 2012

Time for a game of bowls

Now that another vintage is over, all the hard working staff gathered at the club to enjoy a roast dinner, some drinks, and a game of bowls.
Now that another vintage is over, all the hard working staff gathered at the club to enjoy a roast dinner, some drinks, and a game of bowls. Jim and Calum have different tactics. Jim is a real professional, while Calum just tells the bowl where to go and somehow it works!  All the staff had their names put into a hat and drawn out for prizes that ranged from a $1200 weekend escape to 4 star hotel in Melbourne with dinner and a show, to vouchers for car maintenance, jewellery, and restaurants. All in all, it was a great day with the sun shining and the wine beckoning, continuing until the late hours.  





Thursday 3 May 2012

The end of our 2012 vintage

All our 2012 grapes have now been harvested and we have crushed just under 25ooo tonnes, which was more than last year.

All our 2012 grapes have now been harvested and we have crushed just under 25ooo tonnes, which was more than last year. The hard work and long hours have been worth it as our 2012 vintage is great overall.

It has been a very tiring year for some of our cellar hands and while the wine is finishing in tank, it is time for them to cool off. What better way to cool off than in the spirit of sport.

Have a look at the team playing in the local Saints football team. Let's hope all the full body workout will help, as it is time to begin planning for next year.


We hope you enjoy our 2012 vintage!


Wednesday 11 April 2012

Open 24 hours a day

We always tell people that the winery is open 24 hours a day, and this time we can prove it.

We always tell people that the winery is open 24 hours a day, and this time we can prove it.

We often have to put in long hours at vintage time. Here’s a picture of Francesco, one of the Italian students, with Marion and Scott. They all look quite content considering that the crew have just worked a 12 hour shift.



There are definitely some perks of working through the night. Have a look at this amazing sunrise over our winery. Isn’t it beautiful? The sunrise is majestic to watch at night.


Monday 12 March 2012

Vintage 2012


We had a great start to our 2012 vintage this February. The weather was on our side and everything was going smoothly, but we almost spoke too soon...

We had a great start to our 2012 vintage this February. The weather was on our side and everything was going smoothly, but we almost spoke too soon...

We were 11,000 tonnes into the harvest with another 15,000 tonnes to go and the rain started to come down. Fortunately, we had a couple of our international students with us who were still very keen to work in the rain and they even looked like they were enjoying it! Here’s a photo of Marion and Marco, all wrapped up, along with our new winemaker, Frank. Rain may slow us down a little but nothing can stop us!

The white grape harvest is going really well and has shown well-balanced grassy overtones in general which may just extend our vintage by a day or two this year. Our Vineyard Manager could not be happier!

Thursday 2 February 2012

New faces at the winery

Winemaking can’t just be learnt from books and so, just as I did work experience at various wineries when I was studying, we have welcomed four new students for the 2012 vintage.

Winemaking can’t just be learnt from books and so, just as I did work experience at various wineries when I was studying, we have welcomed four new students for the 2012 vintage. The three guys are from Italy and the young lady is from France. They will be working in the cellar to understand the way Ozzies make wine.













We have a new winemaker too, Frank Mollo. Frank is a local lad who worked in the cellar when he was younger, then went to college to get his qualifications and is now a winemaker working back in his home town. He does look like he is concentrating hard in this picture!

This month, we had some new machinery installed to assist us in increasing our crushing capacity to 30,000 tonnes. It was a big job to crane in the new equipment but our new crusher was installed and the first of the 2012 Traminer grapes were crushed and are looking great.

Thursday 5 January 2012

Welcome to our new website!

We’re very pleased to welcome you to our new website. We’ve had a spruce up and a bit of a make-over and we hope you’ll agree that our new site is much fresher and easier to navigate.
We’re very pleased to welcome you to our new website. We’ve had a spruce up and a bit of a make-over and we hope you’ll agree that our new site is much fresher and easier to navigate.
We've added new sections including a blog from my wife, Cathryn, all about her favourite foods and recipes. We've included a map of the winery so you can picture where we all are and lots of photos of the team and news about what we’ve been up to. Don't forget to enter our regular competitions too – we're kicking off with the opportunity to win a year's supply of my wines so definitely don’t miss that!


I hope you enjoy your visit to our new site.


Cheers,
Andrew