Dear Savour Life Wine Club Member,
AUTUMN TASTING PACK
Welcome to all our new members and greetings to all our existing supporting members.
Our Wine Club has now been going for some 8 years and with the advent of our Cellar Door three years ago we have seen a dramatic increase in this membership. Through our website we are providing a virtual “Farmers Market“ type buying experience by offering a range of superb “organic/Biodynamic” wines. Come and have a browse at our site www.macquariedale.com.au and see what is on offer!
Ross enjoying the stunning view from Macquariedale
This pack is for those members who have elected to receive a tasting pack four (4) times per year. In this pack we have included 3 white and 3 red wines for those ordering the mixed pack. In the white range we have included 1 bottle of our aged Semillon 2001 (museum release) and 1 bottle of Chardonnay 2008 and the Chardonnay 2006 unwooded. The Semillon has been cellared by us in bottle for the past 8 years and is showing some lovely lime and grapefruit characters overlaid with honey and butterscotch making it a great compliment to seafood. The Chardonnay 2008 is organically grown and is a burst of flavour on the palate. The Chardonnay unwooded has been very popular with our members and is a light and refreshing wine for afternoon enjoyment or lazing around on a picnic.
For the reds we have included 1 bottle each of our Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 (museum release), our Shiraz 2006 and our just released Merlot 2008. The Cabernet Sauvignon is drinking very well and is particularly smooth with a very clean finish. The Shiraz 2006 is a lighter fruity style with minimal oak tannins and will be great with the family barbeque.
The Matthew Merlot 2008 has just been released and we have had some very good comments from consumers coming to taste wines at the Cellar Door. The wine shows some great fruit characters with some bold oak flavours, a definite winner with light meat and pasta dishes.
Our “Certified Biodynamic” wines are produced with low sulphur levels, about one third the level of common bottle shop brands, and the wines are showing beautiful clean flavours on the back palate.
We hope you enjoy these environmentally friendly wines.
BIODYNAMIC CERTIFICATION 10281BD
Ross with the flowform used to create
the biodynamic preparations
We have just been awarded our annual continuing Biodynamic Certification from the BFA/ACO. This certification is a cornerstone of our business and is definitely supporting our sales increase both here in Oz and in our export markets. All the Certified wine producers are working together on a media campaign to better educate the consumer on the benefits of certified organic/Biodynamic wines – more of this in the next newsletter!
WINE CLUB DINNER
Our next Savour Life Wine Club Food and Wine Function is now planned for September 2009. The format and date will be confirmed by email soon.
CELLAR DOOR & CLUB MEMBERSHIP
When next you visit the Hunter please come and experience the Macquariedale hospitality and try our full range of wines and olive products. We are now open all weekends and school holidays and most week days from 10 am to 5 pm however if it is a quiet time just call forward to find out if we are around – the phone number is (02)6574-7012. We now have Pauline Wood and Jenni Chesher to welcome you at the Cellar Door with back up from Ross and Derice.
Other Events
We have the Tocal field days coming up in the first weekend of May and we would love to have members drop by for a refresher on our wines.
The Vegan Show held at the Petersham Town Hall will be held on Sunday, 3 May where we will be exhibiting.
Our foray into the Newcastle Markets on most Sunday mornings is providing some very interesting contacts. Savy consumers are starting to use Farmers Markets as a regular source of fresh, local produce including organic wines and steering away from supporting the dominant supermarkets.
WINE AVAILABILITY
We mentioned in the last newsletter that we were about to launch our first Sparkling and this has now happened in December. We have been blown over by the great response to “Emma’s Bubbles” which is a chardonnay based 2007 vintage ”methode champenoise”. Selling price is $24 nett ($30 less members 20% discount).
Our Muscat Liqueur – aka Liquid Christmas Cake has been a wonderful seller during the holiday period especially chilled and is worth a special trip to sample!
We also have released our latest vintage of Matthew Merlot. This wine has been a favourite of our supporters over the years and we are sure this wine is as good as all our previous Merlots.
The Thomas Reserve Shiraz 2007 is sold only to our members and Cellar Door visitors - the wine is a beautiful example of Hunter Shiraz, will age gracefully and is a great addition to your future enjoyment. We are offering to our members to hold the wine (in case lots) for you with a 50% deposit now and the balance in 12 months on dispatch. There are only 60 cases left so it may make an interesting gift, an award to a valued employee or even a gift to yourself! Please order on the price list attached or email.
QUESTION – DO YOU KNOW THAT OUR WINES DO NOT CONTAIN
FINING AGENTS!
Most people will say what are fining agents? Possibly up to about 99% of all wines are fined to remove phenolic bitterness on the back palate using such products as egg whites, milk (casein), fish or even nuts. The new labeling laws now make it mandatory to declare these items so that allergy suffers can be alerted to products that contain these. Most of our wines do not contain these products as we pick the grapes at optimum ripeness and gently crush the grapes. All vegetarians and vegans should enjoy our wines!
2009 VINTAGE
As we go to press with this communication we are in the middle of picking grapes for this vintage. The white wine grapes have been picked successfully at optimum ripeness with the red grapes being subject to the intense heat over January and the early part of February. We still have some Cabernet Sauvignon to pick, however 160mm of rain over the last few days will certainly slow down the ripening process. More details will be provided on the 2009 vintage in the next newsletter.
SALES
We have enclosed our price list detailing our current wine availability. Remember all wines are purchased with a 20% discount and we are happy to put together mixed cases for you and delivery is free! Delivery can be arranged to your home, office or to a friend, if so required. Another brochure is enclosed so please pass this onto a friend who may be interested in our quality, great drinking Certified Biodynamic wines.
