Dear Savour Life Wine Club Member,
Autumn Tasting Pack
The recent major floods in Queensland and Victoria and the incredible heat we are experiencing in the Hunter area, once again underpins the vast extremes of this beautiful continent we live in. I recently heard reference to the iconic poem “Core of my Heart – My Country” written by Dorothea MacKellar around 1908 when she was back in England and homesick for Australia. The poem was written about her experiences on a farm at Gresford in the Hunter Valley.
To quote 2nd para :
“I love a sunburnt country
A land of sweeping plains
Of ragged mountain ranges
Of droughts and flooding rains
I love her far horizons
I love her jewel-sea
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me.”
These words capture her amazing awareness of the forces of Mother Nature that our country is experiencing. It also brings into focus the forces that our primary producers face to grow good edible food for our sustenance.
Now back to our wines – many thanks to all our members for the great support in the lead up to Christmas. We hope you all enjoyed the wines over this holiday period. We welcome all our new members and look forward to providing a continuing range of exceptional hand-crafted Biodynamic wines.
In the mixed pack we have included 2 bottles each of our Semillon 2010 and Shiraz 2008 - both varieties are the backbone of the Hunter wine industry. The Semillon is more of a drink-now style to be enjoyed with seafood and the Shiraz is a light tannin summer red to be enjoyed on these very hot days. There is also one bottle each of our Verdelho 2010 and Cabernet Sauvignon 2009. The Verdelho goes well with spicy dishes and the complexity of the Cabernet Sauvignon will further improve with some cellaring for another year.
This pack is for those members who receive the February Tasting Pack (we have 2 delivery cycles available Feb/Aug and May/ Nov for our Members).
Our “Certified Biodynamic” wines are produced with low (50 – 100ppm) 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, natural wines.
Vintage 2011
As we go to press we have commenced grape harvesting. Some of the white grape vines suffered from the cool, wet spring however the reds are looking quite good. The work that has been carried out during the winter with cover crops, BD compost and teas has certainly had a very beneficial effect, particularly on the vine canopy vigor and has helped the vines cope with this exceptional hot weather that we are currently experiencing.
Slow Food Lunch
Following on from last years success we are pleased to announce that the date for the next lunch is Saturday, 24 September 2011. Please diarise this date as it will be an event not to miss! More details will be provided closer to the time however if you would like to reserve your seats please email:
derice@macquariedale.com.au
Garlic
The garlic harvest in late November went very well and many favourable comments have been received from our Members who have purchased the fresh Certified Biodynamic garlic. We still have limited stock available at the same price of $40 per kg – so if you would like to try some or you need more of our yummy garlic please let us know by email. Several local (Hunter Valley) organic stores have been selling the garlic with good acceptance. We are planning to expand the garlic planting this winter.
Biodynamic Certification / 10281BD
We have recently received our ongoing Biodynamic Certification with our neighbouring Vercoe vineyard becoming Organic In-conversion.
Other Events
There are many wine, food, speciality organic and vegan festivals scheduled during this year at which we will be showcasing our wines. These events will be held in Sydney, Melbourne, Central Coast and the Hunter and we look forward to catching up with all our Members at these times.
Finally, we hope everyone remains safe from all the natural disasters that are occurring around the country. We look forward to being your Biodynamic wine supplier so please contact us for your supplies. Members receive 20% discount with free delivery on the East Coast from Sunshine Coast Queensland to Melbourne Victoria
We wish you a very prosperous and healthy year!
Ross, Derice, Jenni, Carmel, Pauline and Daniel.