05/12/18

Hello fellow pinotphile,


2019 is very nearly upon us. Silly season has arrived. We hope you have a good one with plenty of fun, family and friends to share it all with.

The vineyard is full of Triffids with flowering kicking off a little later than usual - due to some intermittent wintery weather, balanced with the odd summer day,  (31 degrees today! Beach day) resulting in magic beanstalk-like behaviour for the vines. 2019 is looking good so far!

Jim, the kids and I are looking forward to a full summer holiday for the first time in ever. The Hunter Valley usually kicks off around Australia day so the past 17 years have seen our summers rudely interrupted by harvest for us (well, for Jim really). Another reason we love Tassie - Vintage in April is much more civilised! We will spend Christmas on a beach further south from here with kids and dogs in tow. Cannot wait!

My last email mentioned a review from Huon Hooke, which has just been republished in the December/January 2019 GT Wine Mag. We also have had this very lovely article from James Halliday in the Weekend Australian Magazine (Nov 24-25) See below (or for a slightly more legible version jump to our website review page here )

We have really had a fabulous 2018. Harvest with a forklift that tips was a revelation in the winery. The rhythms of farm life are setting in even for FIFO Jim. (who today has gone up river for a fly fish...he is busy but gets the odd day to himself not in an airport or the office) We are exceptionally grateful that we are here getting to do what we do. Thankyou for your part in this, supporting us to do it!

The 2018 wines are looking excellent as we prepare to bottle them early next year. We cannot wait to bring you them especially as we will have much more quantity after the tight 2017 harvest. And we have been tweaking the packaging a little - cannot wait to get feedback on that!

If you are in need of any wine we currently have only 20 six packs remaining of the 2016 Huon Valley Pinot Noir on the website - and then nothing more until next August! (The 2016 is drinking beautifully right now and was rated 97 points by Halliday - and matches a ham sandwich very nicely!)

If you are a Standing Order customer I am looking forward to finding out how this new system is all going to work next March/April (yes, I designed it but that almost guarantees it won't work as I want it to!) You should hear from me mid March and if you don't please get in touch....I am really great at finding all the glitches through embarrassing muck ups. I am hopeful this will eventually save me from a lot of that activity but based on my history only assume the beginning will be full of them!

We do wish you (and yours) a very wonderful long summer holiday full of love, rest and laughter. If you are down this way please get in touch - we may be out of the office but if we are around we do love to share the view and meet new and old friends!

Happy new year - may 2019 be a terrific one. (slower would be good - 2018 seriously blasted by!)

Cheers, Jim and Daisy