The throes of winter are upon us, the last leaves have fallen off the vines and pruning crews are out in force across McLaren Vale.

While the pace in the winery has slowed somewhat from the frantic times of vintage, there is still plenty to do. In June we bottled our 2015 Pinot Grigio and 2014 Shiraz, and this month we will be bottling our first Riesling Gewurztraminer (2015) and a 2013 Nebbiolo. It is always exciting to see our wines make it to bottle and even more exciting to see how they are received by our customers. Our 2015 Pinot Grigio has already hit the shelves and wine lists of bottle shops, cafes, hotels and restaurants and by the way it is selling I can only assume those who have chosen to partake in a glass or bottle have really enjoyed it.

In between preparations for bottling I have been looking after our 2015 reds, which are now maturing in barrels. This year we produced two great McLaren Vale reds, a straight Shiraz and a Grenache Shiraz Mouvedre blend (67/28/5%) to be exact.

I am looking forward to catching up with many of you in the near future when we conduct our 2015 release tastings. More news on those tastings shortly. In the mean time I’m off to enjoy a glass of red by the fire.

Cheers
Russell