Vintage 2023; Our 33rd!
(This was sent out in David’s newsletter in March 2023)
What a summer we've had!
When we've had about 10 days of sunny weather, we forget about the previous several months. And in our case, the previous months were wet, windy, and no sun. And then, of course, in January and February we had the various cyclones and storms. Over 500mm of rain in January alone- not bad. Certainly the wettest and most challenging summer ever.
What has this done to the grapes? The waterlogged soils mean the vine roots have difficulty uptaking nutrients. This displays itself in discoloured leaves. So we have had to regularly spray nutrients like Potassium, Magnesium and seaweed onto the canopy to try to hold it as best we can.
Everything is pretty much on a knife edge. For the Sangiovese we need another 3-4 weeks of sunny weather. For the Dolcetto, we're picking it for our rose this Saturday.
And we only made this decision this afternoon as we don't think the grapes will last another week.
If any of you would like to help out this Saturday, we'd love to see you. Getting pickers since Covid has been difficult. This year is no different. This is not our end of vintage public harvest with lunch and all that. But it is equally important.
We start at 8.30 and go until mid-afternoon. If interested, let me know asap. We are happy to pay for your effort in $ or wine. And I will let you know the details.
Other news
We're bottling our next Dolcetto and Volare, both from 2021, within the next month.
In April, we'll also have another FYO day. So start collecting your bottles. And I'll let you know the date in a few weeks.
We've also just released the 2020 Amphora Sangiovese. 2020 was a drought year (the exact opposite of this summer), and the wine produced is very concentrated with colour that stains your teeth. It's unlikely that we'll see a summer like 2020 again. We also made a reserve Sangiovese from 2020, which will be released later in the year.
The amphora wine is now available on our website.
Our new Tasting Room is open daily for wine tastings, wines by the glass and DIY deli style platters. Come up and have a look if you haven't yet.
Hope to see some of you up this way, maybe even this Saturday!
All the best,
David