Monthly Report - July 2011

Pruning continues in earnest …

Man it was cold today, last day of the month and Tim had come across from Melbourne to spend a few days with us before heading off to his next airport lounge and flight, and we wanted to get some pruning done.  Well we tried this morning, but the wind was howling in from the SW at gusts of 90kph, the dog was shivering, our noses were cherry red, and rain was starting to hit us like hail stones on their horizontal paths – so we went and had a cup of tea while the weather howled outside.

Overall though the weather has been pretty good this month with average rainfall and mild days, meaning most days have been going up and down the rows when not working inside on my other little jobs.  The Merlot has been pruned and a portion of the Cabernet Franc – so there is about three weeks of cutting and tying to finish off this yearly task.  I do have further work abroad early in August (see photo below of how I get to work in the Philippines), but I then have a good 3 weeks to crack on and try and finish it off before spring pops up while we weren’t looking.

Hasn’t the year gone quickly though.  I have put on my “to do” list a heap of little jobs to tidy up within the vineyard (mostly wires – if you are an expert at stretching and tying wire trellising then the adoration of every vigneron is yours to behold) – but as yet have not had a good go at them.  I can see September closing in with little action there as well, so pretty much the next 2-3 months have little in the way of “golf” days allocated.

This month also heralded the release of the 2008 Allouran to the mailing list.  As it is our 10th year anniversary from the start of this adventure we have offered a special deal associated with our most important wine – the Allouran.  Contact us if you would like to check it out – it is very unlikely that you would be disappointed.

So as you can see, a quiet month of pruning.  We have made it to a couple of wine dinners and they were exceptional, especially a lovely dinner at Aaron and Marion’s house in Perth where the wines kept coming and the food matched their quality.  Of course the Tour de France finished with an Aussie on the top of the podium, never thought I’d see the day, and I am very grateful for the early nights now after 3 weeks of riding through the French countryside.

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