Dear Savour Life Wine Club Member,
Winter Tasting Pack Welcome to all our new members and a very big thank you for all the support we are getting from existing members. Our entire range of wines is receiving some great comments at our Cellar Door from all our visitors. It is interesting to note that the Hunter region was once a very well frequented tourist spot in the winter but now visitors appear to be treating the Hunter as both a summer and winter 2-3 day relaxing and recreational break.
With the worldwide financial crisis appearing to have hit the bottom of the trough we hope our members have managed their way through the maze and are starting to feel a little more confident about the future. One of the biggest gains for the Hunter announced in the recent budget is the funding of the F3 freeway extension which will have the effect of bringing Sydney nearly 20 – 30 minutes closer to the wine region. From the start of the F3 at Wahroonga to our winery will only be about 1hr and 20 minutes – incredibly close!
In this mixed pack we have included 3 white and 3 red wines. The all white and red packs are based on the white and red wines contained in the mixed pack. In the white range we have included one bottle of our aged Semillon 2002 (museum release) and 1 bottle each of Chardonnay 08 and the Chardonnay 08 unwooded. The Semillon has been cellared by us in bottle for the past 7 years and is showing some lovely lime and grapefruit characters overlaid with honey and butterscotch making it a great compliment to seafood. This wine will last at least another 5 – 10 years with proper controlled cellaring. The Chardonnay 08 is organically grown and is a burst of flavour on the palate with light oak overtones. The Chardonnay unwooded 08 has been a real favourite with our members and is a light and refreshing wine for afternoon quaffing.
For the reds which are all Certified Biodynamic we have included 1 bottle each of our Shiraz 06, our just released Merlot 08 and a bottle of Thomas Shiraz 08. The Shiraz 06 is medium bodied and fruity with a mild tannin structure. The Merlot is a big wine with a great structure and has lovely ripe fruit with a clean finish. Already this wine lives up to the Macquariedale Merlot standard of a great single variety wine. The Shiraz 08 is a lighter style with some smooth oak tannins and will be great with the family barbeque.
Our vineyard in spring.
Our “Certified Biodynamic” wines are all 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
As a bit of background to this certification - it is somewhat harder to obtain than just ORGANIC certification as there are certain qualitative measures that have to be taken based on Steiners holistic approach. So when you see Biodynamic certification you can rest assured that the product is produced more sustainably than just organic!
WINE CLUB DINNER
Our next Savour Life Wine Club Dinner is being held on Saturday 12th September 09 and once again we look forward to a great night of food and wine and a informative guest speaker. Please diarise this date and more details will be emailed in July.
CELLAR DOOR & CLUB MEMBERSHIP
Our Wine Club membership continues to expand in spite of the economic doom and gloom and we have great support from these new members who are scattered all over our great land from Freemantle to Cairns and down to Hobart. We have a new product, a Wine Finer, at the Cellar Door that is a wine pourer which replaces the need for a wine decanter. The device goes into the bottle and aerates and filters all in the one pour – no need for expensive crystal decanters which are hard to clean on both the inside and outside. On a same wine comparison the wine which went through the Wine Finer was quite superior! Price is $75 each.
OTHER EVENTS
Tocal Field days at Paterson were held on the first weekend in May which was a great success with beautiful weather and increased attendance in numbers. There seemed to be plenty of activity with capital farm equipment now receiving accelerated depreciation which was confirmed in the Federal Budget.
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 the dominant supermarkets.
We are having a winemakers dinner at River Royal Inn in Morpeth, Hunter Valley on Friday 26th June 09. An email with details will be sent shortly.
Manly Wine and Food fair with a definite sustainability theme is happening on the weekend of June 6/7th. We look forward to catching up with those of our Sydney members who are planning to attend.
The national Biodynamic Conference and AGM is being held in Harndorf SA on the weekend of June 19-21st. Guest speaker is Dr Manfred Klett from Germany who is regarded as one of the key proponents of Biodynamics in the world.
Finally the annual Organic Expo is being held in Melbourne on the weekend of 25–26th July. This is always a great expo show casing many of the organic products available on the market.
WINE AVAILABILITY
Our range of wines are readily available with the Shiraz – Thomas Reserve 07 and the new sparkling Emma’s Bubbles only available to members and cellar door visitors.
We remind our members that we can cellar the Shiraz- Thomas Reserve 07 in case lots for a minimum 12 months with 50% deposit and the balance on dispatch up to a maximum time of 2 years. In fact we can duplicate this arrangement with any of our wines for those members that want their wines cellared correctly over a year or two.
We have secured a few more new outlets where some of our wines are available and these include: Black Butt Hotel, Warners Bay Hotel, Cellarbration – Hunter St, Three Bean Espresso Bar and Lorn Bottle Shop in the Hunter/Newcastle area and Mavis’s Kitchen in Murwillimbah.
WINE PROFILE
We are planning to give you a brief overview of the various grape varieties and how they fit into our product range.
Merlot
Merlot has gone the full circle from being a very popular single variety to one which was loosing support from consumers as there appeared to be too many insipid, bland wines being offered. Merlot now has gained back some of the ground it lost as there are some delicious, full bodied seductively soft wines available.
Merlot sometimes is difficult to grow as it has difficulty with flowering which can cause small bunches or if not pruned correctly it has a propensity to be too productive. Essentially this means that the grapes have very little flavour unless the cropping levels can be controlled. When Merlot is in balance with modest yields the wine realises its true potential and can produce some magnificent, well structured wines. The biodynamic system allows us to produce some of the best Merlots in Australia. Here’s to our Matthew Merlot!
2009 VINTAGE
Overall the 2009 vintage in the Hunter was quite good. The white grapes were picked in excellent condition and the red grapes particularly Melot and Shiraz were also very good. Our Cabernet Sauvignon suffered from the 165mm downpour in mid February.
SALES
We have enclosed our price list detailing our current wine availability. Remember all wines are purchased with a 20% discount to our members 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. In addition to the 20% discount we are offering a free WINE FINER as described above with the purchase of 2 cases of wine which as you know can be mixed or single varieties. We have never made such an offer to our members before – however we are convinced of the practicality and usefulness of this device!
Staff
We are pleased to advise that Sheree Taylor has joined our team as our vineyard supervisor. Sheree is studying Biodynamics and Viticulture through Taruna College (Rudolf Steiner Education Centre in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand) and Charles Sturt University. She brings a wealth of enthusiasm and a dedicated focus to improving our BD methods.
Sheryl White has been appointed to look after our sales activities in the Newcastle and Central Coast areas. Sheryl has had an extensive sales career and her dedication and perseverance will be valuable assets in reaching our sales objectives.
We know both these new members of staff will make a valuable contribution to our team.
