One door closes

February 12, 2019

Phew, we’ve just come up for air after a very busy summer – the perfect storm of our trickiest growing season to date, busiest cellar door and cottage, and three small people who are just old enough to miss their term-time activities but still too little to pack off to their grandparents.

This morning the last of the nets went over the vines marking the end of the back-breaking vineyard work till harvest starts in about three weeks; the cellar door is now closed until Easter; and the kids’ activities have started up again for the year (including our oldest starting school!). It truly does feel like new beginnings.

I wanted to welcome all of you who joined our mailing list over the summer. We had a great season at the tasting bench with lots of familiar faces and so many new ones. I love hearing what’s brought people to our door – where you’ve tried our wine or who’s sent you our way – and had so many interesting (grown-up) conversations. Neil and I regularly um and ah about adding to our cellar door experience – cranking up the woodfired oven perhaps and offering local produce to enjoy with our wines. But while there’s a part of us that likes the idea, at this stage we feel we should stick to what we do best – making wine; and what we love – telling people about it. And what better way to do that than via an intimate tasting in the cool quiet cellar where it all happens, gazing on the vineyard where the story begins, with no distractions.

And while we can’t indulge in that all year (we’re too busy farming and making the stuff the majority of the time to stand around opening bottles), we can keep the conversations flowing via these letters. I had so many great questions over the summer about wine in general and our approach to growing and making it – most of which I could answer, some of which required further research – that I thought would make for an interesting series of letters over the coming months.

So next up, as we enter the pointy end of the season, we’ll talk about the single most important factor when it comes to determining a wine’s style…

But for now, as I throw myself headfirst into playgroup, kinder and the wonderland of the under-sixes I’ll miss those grown-up conversations at the bench, so please feel free to hit reply at any time lest I feel like I’m talking to myself!

And don’t forget, although our physical cellar door is closed for business while we focus on the harvest at hand, you can drop us a line any time to find out what’s available and arrange a delivery. Or pop the Easter weekend in your diary to come and try some new releases in the flesh.

Cheers
Anna

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