Newsletter - November 2008
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Dear Savour Life Wine Club Member,

SUMMER TASTING PACK

Welcome to all our new members and greetings to all our existing supporters. We are all very fortunate to be living in Australia at this time of major world wide financial crisis and we trust that all our members are doing well.

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 one bottle each of our aged Semillon 2002, Chardonnay 08 and the Chardonnay 08 unwooded. The Semillon has been cellared by us in the bottle for the past 6 years and is showing some lovely lime and grapefruit characters overlaid with honey and butterscotch making it a great compliment to seafood. The Chardonnay 08 is organically grown and is similar in style to the Trophy winning 07 vintage. 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 07, our Shiraz 06 and our Thomas Reserve Shiraz 07. The Cabernet Sauvignon is quite youthful and would benefit from a little cellaring as the tannin structure will become smoother. The Shiraz 06 is a lighter style with minimal oak tannins similar to a big rosé and can be chilled lightly for summer drinking. The wine has an interesting fruity bouquet. The Thomas Reserve Shiraz is normally only sold at Cellar Door however we felt it was time for all our members to experience this special release.
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

This Biodynamic Certification status is becoming the cornerstone of our business with more and more people recognizing the effort that we go through to deliver these environmentally friendly, clean wines for your enjoyment. We plan to continue to move all our production to selling only Certified wine.

Our next Savour Life Wine Club Function is proposed for Sunday, 26th April 2009. This event will be a Sunday lunch during the Anzac Day long weekend. More details will follow in the New Year – however please diarise for this outstanding event!

CELLAR DOOR & CLUB MEMBERSHIP

Our cellar door continues to attract a range of interested people from all areas of Australia and many from different countries around the world. We now offer a range of organic produce including tea, coffee, pasta, pasta sauce, olive oil, olives and various other products for overnight visitors that need some organic food for their in-house meals.

As well as food products, we stock a small selection of books on topics related to the environment and health. A new book just added to our range is “From the Earth to the Table” which is a selection of short stories, poems and recipes. Included in the short stories is
“In the Vineyard with Biodynamics” written by Derice. Any of these books can be ordered direct from us and mailed to you. A order form is enclosed.

Other Events

The Warringah Council Environmental day was held on the 25th May 08 and a large contingent of interested people sampled our Certified wines and were impressed with the range and the chemical free status.

We showcased our wines at two Vegan festivals on Sunday 15th June and Sunday 2nd November 08 to an appreciative audience.

The Organic Expo was held at darling Harbour on the weekend of the 26th July 08 where a massive turnout of people looking for new products, who were already committed to Organics, and many new people making the change to include cleaner, healthier products into their daily lives. Again our wines were well received and many new customers were made.

Sydney City Councils LIVE GREEN expo at Victoria Park in central Sydney on Sunday Aug 17th 08 was well attended and our wines were again on for tasting and review.

WINE AVAILABILITY

As time goes on we are supplying more and more of our wines on a direct basis through direct contact and our internet web site www.macquariedale.com.au
We are now selling our wines at the Newcastle markets every second Sunday to gauge local interest.

No2 Oak Street restaurant in Bellingen, NSW, which is the only Hatted restaurant between Newcastle and Byron Bay now has several of our wines available. H2O Café in Narrabeen also has our wines available.

CARBON CREDITS & ENVIRONMENT IMPACTS

It is interesting to note that Organic Grape growers who can prove that their soil carbon content has increased should be issued with carbon credits which can be sold through carbon trading schemes. This income could make a considerable contribution in offsetting the extra costs of farming organically and help keep the retail price of our wine competitive. We will be assessing the trading scheme as it unfolds over the next few years.

Spring vines in our biodynamic vineyard

A further study in Italy has found that organic wine producers can halve their environmental impact, which is definitely making a positive contribution and a great way forward! This review is based on the resources used to grow, package and distribute wine.

All our members are to be congratulated for choosing to buy Macquariedale Organic Wines making a great contribution to their own health and the health of the environment. Conventional wine has been listed 2nd on the list of the “The Dirty Dozen” being the “12 worst foods from the point of view of pesticides and percentage with pesticide residues” – from ‘Total Diet Survey Analysis by Alison White’.

REVIEW OF 2008 VINTAGE

As we indicated in our last newsletter the least said about the 2008 Hunter grape vintage the better. However the good news is that we sourced some Certified Biodynamic grapes from the Central West of NSW to supplement our supply and the wine made from this source is looking very good.

Our new releases for the Christmas period are as follows:

Emmas Bubbles – A Sparkling Semi-Dry Chardonnay again with low preservative 220. $30 per bottle less members discount and the wine comes in a 6 pack – order now for delivery around 10th December 08

Liquid Christmas Cake - Our relabelled Muscat Liqueur!

Matthew Merlot 08 will also be available as our current release Merlot has all sold following the article referred to below:

Wine Selector Magazine
This locally produced magazine reviewed a broad range (approx 120) of Organic wines currently available throughout Australia and we are pleased to report that our Merlot was judged as one of the top 3 wines reviewed. No wonder we have no stock left of this wine!