Hi All,
My good intention of a monthly newsletter has fallen by the wayside a bit. Vineyards and wineries are busy places! So here is an almost quarterly one instead!
The Open Cellars event went very well in August, with lots of new faces amongst the ones we know well. We like seeing our regulars, but it is also a treat meeting lots of new people, who find us mostly by word of mouth.
The vines are looking good, so we are hoping for warmer summer weather this year, so we can produce some nice, ripe fruit. It was a bit of a struggle last year with the rain and lack of ripening weather. In the wine line, we have bottled our next barrel of Aromatica. We are working on a sparkling rose for the hotter months.
At the Cellar door we have been trialing a small hand held wine decanter now for some months. We have been so impressed that we decided to source the manufacturer and import them directly. I don’t think I’d pour a bottle without it now! Most people who drink wine hear the jargon “that wine is a bit closed……it needs to open up. It needs to be put in a decanter or sit in the glass a while before being drunk.” However we often don’t want to wait for the wine, especially at a dinner party. Some of us (like me) don’t like to clean the tannin stains out of the decanter afterwards either. I think many of us don’t really appreciate how much a wine can improve with breathing.
We have enjoyed seeing the astonishment on peoples’ faces as I give them a “before” and then “after” taste at the cellar door of a newly opened wine, or one (most of ours) that takes a while to open up. The transformation of the taste of the wine poured through the decanter is often quite startling in the way the flavors open up and intensify and the wine rounds out and softens in the mouth. I always say to people when they ask ,”When should I use it?” to try out a taste of any wine you open, then taste a bit through the decanter and decide which is best. In most cases you’ll choose to use the decanter. It’s good for many whites as well as reds. It is tough, and just needs to be rinsed under the tap to clean.
So if you need a good Christmas present, these, any of our lovely wines or winery gift vouchers are all pretty good gifts. The hand held decanters are $35 each. The standard price elsewhere is about $65! We can post the decanters for $5.
Hope you all have a good break over the summer and of course a great Christmas. Might see you in for some wine beforehand!
All the Best,
Teunis and Dorothy