plog

Well everything is finally out in the vineyard. The cabernet has revealed it's secrets and the early indications for most varieties is pretty good. I've seen two bunches on most of the shoots and everything is looking even and healthy. I can tell you I was pretty concerned during winter. Last season was really hard on the vines and we really didn't know what it took out of them. It's a relief that the early signs are so good. There's a long way to go but a good start is well... a good start.

Here's hoping for a though bred year... we spread about 300 tonnes of mulched down horse manure through the vineyards this year which should help act as both a mulch and a low level fertilizer. With the sort of water restrictions we are going to face this season and I suspect the foreseeable future it will be important to keep the vines as happy and healthy as possible along with providing an environment that conserves as much natural moisture as possible.

Eventually I plan to straw mulch much of our vineyards, but given the current demand for straw as livestock food around Australia, the price is just too prohibitive. Oh well we can only do what we can. That said, I am looking forward to the coming season, It should be an absolute cracker!

As the last of the 2002 vintage wines are sold out, I am looking forward to releasing the 2003's. Although not as varietally intense as the 2002's they're bloody delicious! Look out for them, they are only about a month or so away.

We stayed up late last night watching the Lunar Eclipse. Unreal! it was a perfect night for viewing with crystal clear skies and no wind.... just a little cold!

Today is beautiful and sunny. I just spent a few hours pruning with Corey Chaplain out in the old Bush Vine Grenache block (planted 1923). Although the sap isn't flowing too much yet, you can tell bud burst is just around the corner. Although we desperately need rain (almost everywhere is in dire straits) if you aren't going to get it, at least its a nice day.

We've just about finished the last dribs and drabs of pruning after a 3 or 4 week break. All that's left is the vines I use for the Larrikin Blend and a little bit of Riesling that mad an awesome sticky this year.

I'm absolutely flat out at the moment. I am putting the finishing touches on the 2003 Labels for the Georgie's Walk, Benjamin's Promise and Alexander's Reward and am printing the first of this stock to go over to Japan in the next couple of weeks. Malo's all pumped through so quickly this year that for the first time I sulfured on Gross Lees. I'll start racking these wines in the next week or so. and get them finished off for their first 12 months oak aging. The 2007's all look great!

The 2005's are basically ready to come out of wood and will be heading for bottling soon. Cant wait to show you all them!

Well enough procrastination... back to work it is!

Well one one more sleep and we are finally off. Excitement for tomorrow battles with the fatigue from yesterday. Christ I am buggered! The last week and a half or so have been a blur of preparations as I try to get ready for the two week family holiday in Bali. Awesome yeah yeah!!!

Today I finally topped the last of the 2007 wines that are through malo at about 5pm and could breathe a sigh that as much as could be done with the wines before we went away had been done! This evening has been a frenzy of last minute packing interspersed with online banking, transfers and all the other preparations that need to be finished before I can comfortably drop the ball for a few weeks.

Yesterday I had an absolute ball! Trevor Harch and Chris Atkins of Tanunda Cellars decided to turn Trevor's Staff Road Trip into a BBQ for half the Barossa at Peter Lehmann Wines' 'Old Redemption'. Trevor, apart from owning Tanunda Cellars down here and up in QLD is also the partner in an Obscenely Successful construction company on the Sunshine Coast in QLD. His idea of a staff getaway was to bring all of the Evans and Harch construction people down for a weekend of fun, culminating in the Big Bastard BBQ!

Trev generously dipped into his pockets and I organized a feast for all. We started with butterflied quail cooked over charcoal followed with my secret recipe lemon soy chicken, rosemary Angus Beef ribs and finished with 3 suckling pigs on the spit. A bloody good swag of the Barossa's best small to medium producers were there and by the time we slurped our way through the 60 or so bottles of red and white that were bought everyone agreed it was a wonderful day.

There is no way I could have coped without the initial assistance of Corey Chaplin (Winemaker and owner of Luna Wines and the producer of my favourite Benchmark Cabernet Sauvignons, the 2004 Luna Cab Sauv-awesome) and subsequent help from top chef, wine guru and all round raconteur Peter Clark of Tin Shed Wines and Vintners Restaurant.

The aftermath landed at 'Wildie's' house (Christian and Amy Canute of Rusden Wines) and from all accounts was a perfect finish to big old day.

Anyway I'm off to bed to enjoy a quick bit of sleep before we head to Bali... Yee Har!

Its been a crazy few weeks and no doubt a few crazy ones to come. The team of Chilean Pruners we have used for the last two year is back again to do their wonderful work. This is their 3rd year and we have only the highest praise for their work ethic and sense of fun. Juan Jose Eby Mueller and the rest of the gang work like troopers, but are always willing to stop work and knock back a bottle or two. This friday we are all getting together for a T-Bone and Red afternoon that if past experience is anything to go by will be bloody awesome!

Corey (with a bit of help from me) has been chugging through our 1923 dry grown shiraz block, and all things considered it is holding up very well. We now have all our vineyards (bar a block of Semillon) on spur pruning, and the quality has been outstanding. What the comming year holds only the fates can tell, but I'm Pretty sure it will be as always verryyy Interesting!

Each Year a group of us like minded souls get together to produce an Olive Oil of outstanding Character. Before you send emails asking when is it available etc, I have to point out that we make our oil on a very democratic system. If you turn up and do the work, you get a pro rata share of the oil.

Although we weren't expecting a bumper crop we thought at least we'd have enough to see us through. Optimism gave way to surprise which led to concern and finally hovered around active panicas on the first morning we slowly drove past tree after tree without the slightest hint of an olive anywhere. The incredibly dry year following a less than ideal flowering had left all the trees that had been so bountiful year after year, as bare as Hubbard's cupboard.

Finally as the onset of depression threatened to send us home empty we spotted Nirvana in the form of our first heavily laden tree. We spread out the tarps grabbed our rakes and spent the entire day cleaning out only around 3/4's of that tree. The next morning we finished it and spent the rest of the day on a few more trees that let us pick our fill. Disaster averted! the best bit to come.

Saturday and Sunday taken care of, Monday morning at sun up saw us gathered at Maccillino's, a traditional cold press olive oil processing shed in Two Wells to turn all our hard fought olives into liquid green gold. You have to do all the work yourself, from loading the olives bucket by bucket into the mill, through coating and stacking the pressing mats, but the reward was when we could stand around, drink piping hot espressos and watch the sun glint of the fat oozing droplets of our hard fought oil. The final task was to clean the olive paste like small sheets of cardboard, off the mats and stack them up for the next group to use.

We left 3 hours after we arrived with our 4 drums of oil, keen to get home and finally relax. Another year's harvest was safely tucked away to settle, we'll bottle in August then for the rest of the year lavishly use our oil with the knowlege that it was hard fought but well won!

It was a small crew this year but we still managed almost 80 litres of oil

WOW!!! Last night we indulged in a superb culinary feast. if a plate of food and a glass of wine were an essay then Mark Karen and the Team at Appellation have written Hamlet!!!

We arrived seven-ish for a pre dinner drink (Nicki Jess and Rick had a Hendrix Gin and Tonic while I had a very dry Martini).We then moved at a beautiful pace through the menu .

I will say this now, right at the start so that I don't have to repeat myself for each course. Every dish that was placed before us without exception was an aesthetic masterpiece. Every plate placed before us was visually stunning... almost (but not quite) too good to eat. So our epic meal began...

The initial 'mouthful' (not mentioned on the menu) really got the appetite going. An artful combination of avocado with cumin and lemon wrapped in a juicy layer of red capsicum. It really got the juices flowing and the appetite sharpened. Rebbecca and the team on the floor were warmly efficient, discrete and informative throughout the meal... which started with the hare and the nicole n.v. With my eyes closed it was amazing how closely the aroma profiles matched. Mark has created a match here that actually extends the meal beyond the plate and into the glass. The nicole became a part of the dish that was harmonious to the nth degree in flavour but contrasting with the texture and temperature.

Following on the heels of the Hare was a delicate piece of snapper with the crispiest crust on a bed of garlic mash served with the 06 Riesling. Creamy Creamy Creamy. The delicate spicing brought out all the thyme rosemary and grapefruit in the Riesling... truly a divine match.

As the empty (I licked my plate clean) dishes were unobtrusively removed it wasn't long before both the 2005 Red Rose and the sweet potato salad were placed in front of us. Wow! the contrast between the crunch pop of the nuts roasted to that perfect point where they seem to just melt in your mouth after the crispiest of bites countered with the rich creamy texture of the sweet potato was amazing. The coriander and the cumin combined with the Rose to lift the fruit out of the wine (particularly the maraschino cherry character for me). amazing synergy!

Next the Chicken and lachs-schinken with the 2005 Stonewell Hill Semillon were placed in front of us. Again the melding of flavours was sublime. The semillon's grassy citrus notes cleansed the rich sauce from the mouth without in anyway compromising the flavour. The texture of the chicken with the salty smoky lachs-schinken replenished the mouth from the cleansing wine... sip for taste the palate oscillated between rich and austere...

We took a slightly longer break between courses here and I think Rick even went for another cleansing Hendrix and tonic. Suitably fortified we stepped forward unto the breach and prepared ourselves for the first of the Red matched courses...

We did not have to wait long as before us was placed two small perfectly rested slices of lamb fillet placed in a braised lamb nest atop a gently subsiding bed of lentils. Here the focus of the food and wine interaction really started to change (for me at least.) The 2002 Benjamin's Promise Shiraz formed a perfect foil for the rich meatiness of the lamb braised lamb and lentils. The balanced and lifted characters brought up out of the Shiraz were a lovely contrast to the richness of the lamb and the gentle starchiness of the lentils.

Next came a two personal favourites; Duck and the 2002 Georgie's Walk Cab Sauv. I'm also very partial to barley in food as it has such a wonderfully slippery almost erotic mouth feel. The guys brought this dish to fruition perfectly. The rich game flavours of the duck and the full creamy texture of the barley are at first awoken with the juniper glaze then balanced fully by the intense flavours of the Georgie's Cabernet.

As the wines started to take their toll the mood of the meal lightened yet the excitement certainly never dwindled...

Onwards Christian Solders was the cry as yet another delicious morsel appeared before us. With the heady rich aromas and mouth filling weight of the Alexander's Reward Cab Shiraz dancing around our mouth, the game and bitter chocolate characters hit each point of the palate not already occupied, and a few that were crowded already. Not a seamless combination but rather a lively dance that each sip and taste wove in ever changing patterns- I must admit I felt in need of the Eskimos Thesaurus with the word snow exchanged for delicious, however this happens to be unavailable so I can only add... delicious!

We were starting to reach a pinnacle of intensity and flavour as the wine that I thought would be the hardest to match with food was served. The blockbusting Larrikin n.v. is such an intense explosion of fruit richness and high alcohol that it would be a tall ask to serve something that could carry it. Mark made it over the line -and beyond- with ease! Th rich creamy texture of the fust highlighted by the caramelized onion coat the tongue and mouth leaving the senses momentarily muted which allows the Larrikin to build gently to it's rich crescendo without the impression of a velvet wrapped house brick entering your body.

Finally the end of the meal arrived in the the form of a trio of deserts coupled with the Old Redemption XO Tawny. Suffice to say that it was a fitting end to an absolutely memorable meal! Each portion of the desert on its own created an exquisite and unique counterpoint to the Old Redemption, drawing out and highlighting different shades of the amazing old Tawny, but together they formed the lyrical crescendo that was essential to round out this amazing meal.

I certainly couldn't eat like this every day, who could and survive for long. But that is not what such an immaculately constructed meal is all about. What Mark has done is to build an exclusive, original and exceptional experience for all the senses that only requires good company to make it complete.

Thankyou Mark and all the Appellation Team for one of the most memorable experiences of my life!

Guru Chef and bloody nice bloke Mark McNamara of Appellation Restaurant out at Peppers The Louise in Marananga has made my year! after a memorable tasting a few weeks ago Mark hinted that he loved the wines so much he'd be keen to do something with them. Well, he certainly has! I am humbled to announce that the June Degustation Tasting Menu has for the first time EVER has be based entirely around a single producer. And even more excitingly (well for me at least) that producer is david Franz. I must admit when Mark and Alice told me I went all tingly inside. This is perhaps the single greatest honor I have achieved in my working life! I'm off there on Monday with Nicki (my wife) and Rick and Jess Loan of 'Loan" Organic Wines to give the menu the test run. Thanks to Jim the owner, Mark, Alice (now on leave) and all the team out at Appellation for this... you guys rock!!!

-Photo Taken about 3pm today from my front door.

Lovely Autumn day, about 21 degrees celsius and not a cloud in the sky!- May is gently drawing to a close. The frantic activity of Vintage 2007 is well over and life has returned to what we in the Lehmann household regard a normal. I'm really stoked with this years quality. In the month or so before vintage I must admit I was shitting large ill formed bricks. The set was small and initially very uneven over a lot of my varieties, the area had been hit with big frosts (as had the rest of Australia- it seems) and this was followed up with a couple of inches in January that split a lot of the super low cropping blocks. "It's gunna be a Shit year...!" I though to myself. But there you go... This side of vintage I'm all smiles. I like being wrong when it's misplaced pessimism!! So looking ahead. The next few weeks will be spent sulphur-ing and cleaning up the reds post malo, a bit of bottling and re blending of the 2005's and 2006's. Heaps of hand printing as the second round of 02's go on sale. Best of all a whole stack of family time before I hit the road in mid June. Maybe I'll see you out there somewhere.