Monthly Report - December 2014

Merlot growing cane tips reaching for the sky, and each other – row M8

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Having a look around the district at the vines, I do not think I have seen as much growth in the vineyards as this year since 2006.  Some vineyards are literally “filled” with vines as the huge amount of growth has also nearly filled in between the rows and driving the tractor through for spraying must be an adventure.  Back in the olden days (1990’s!!), many vineyards were fertilized with extra nitrogen through the irrigation system and I wonder if anyone still does this today – but judging by the growth in some vineyards maybe they do and they have never bothered to change the order of things.  We in Australia always get a hard time about using irrigation systems, and in some cases where they use millions of litres per hectare per season I can totally understand it.  But where it is used sparingly and modified to account for the variety it is drip irrigating I believe it provides the best opportunity to achieve the most ripe, flavorsome, rich, balanced, and complete grapes from which to make wine.  And this ensures you do represent your terroir more accurately and provides the necessary balance to the heat and the dry which is not historically replicated in the home counties of our foreign varieties.  As other regions of the world such as southern France continue to dry out, there will be a time in which drip irrigation may be needed to save a vinous history, or you will simply have to let it die.

What do you drink?…

During the Christmas and New Year period we often get some calls from folk who would like to drop into the vineyard and taste some wines.  This is always welcomed (when someone is home!), and I and Gail always enjoy the chance to eat cheese, drink some reds and chat away about whatever is the topic of the day.  Well this year is no exception and we have had a few visitors and when a couple of guys came through they asked me that question “What do you drink?”

Well it seems a straight forward question and I waffled on as best I could while trying to get Jackson the Wonder Dog out from under their elbows (of which he has a habit of making you throw your wine in the air – I am sure he blooming well knows this).  And after the guys left I actually had a look at the empty bottle wall which is usually about the last 8 weeks of drinking when I am at the house.  The empties were as follows:

• 12 bottles of various Blue Poles wines

• 3 bottles of Eldridge Estate Pinot and a Sauv Blanc he sneaked in

• 2 bottles of Bordeaux Medoc red

• 1 bottle of Fraser Gallop (MR) Chardonnay

• 1 bottle each of Victory Point (MR) Cab Sauv and Chardonnay

• 3 cleanskins from wine friends (local Petit Manseng, Fiano, Gewürztraminer)

• 1 bottle of Amato Teroldego

A total of 24 bottles over 8 weeks, often drunk with friends, so 3 bottles a week which is not too much I personally think. Most of the wines were drunk over a couple or three nights, and I got lucky with the Bordeaux reds as they were not corked and were not over the top brett monsters.  The thing was I remember telling the two visitors that I liked odd red varieties and various southern Euro wines, but in reality I had not had a bottle of those wines in ages.

My wife is not a big drinker at all which makes the wines drunk basically my statistic, and when I look back over the year (excluding my Birthday bash which murdered the average for July) I think I am sort of in the same window of drinking quantity and styles.  I have gone off Sauvignon Blanc and Sem/Sauv blends – they do nothing for me, I still enjoy a Chardonnay but often I am spending half my time wondering why I opened it as most Chardonnay does not move much once opened, I do not drink Riesling unless someone is sharing, but I like some of the new white varieties coming on line – Fiano is my latest favorite.

With red wines I still love Bordeaux styled wines – no idea why I do not drink more oddities like I do with the whites, but I just seem to get picky when trying them and tend to find more reasons to not drink them than do.  I do like what Brad is doing with his weird reds in the Amato range – they are delicious drink now stuff – but as for serious Aussie attempts at Italian and Spanish varieties I often think of the cost as being exorbitant after touring through northern Spain.  And I never really get bored with my own wine – I am always excited to crack open an Allouran or whatever, as I eat so much beef it always seems the perfect fit – which appears a bit obvious I guess, but there you go.

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