Good food and Wine show - Melbourne

Totally South Tourism -our Huon Valley organisation- will have an exhibition space at the show. They will represent us with tastings of our 2004 and 2006 Pinot. So, if you have time, please go down to the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, 30th of May - 1th June, to try some of our wine.
I couldn't send more, due to the ridiculous quotes I received to freight the wines over... :-((( One transport company wanted over 200 $ for the freight of 1 ...yes, one...carton! That's 12 bottles with 17 kg weight. To Melbourne! I shudder to think how much it would cost to send it to Perth or Cairns..... Australia Post delivered it for 20 $ AND it was there in 4 days, including the weekend!
We will be using Australia Post if you would like to order.
The 2004 St. Imre Pinot Noir is 22.00 $ and the 2006 is 33.00 $.
You can place an order by phoning 03 62 981 781.

I know we are at the End of the World... but this freight business rammed it home! How can I serve our interstate customers if our location is such a disadvantage???? The 6 courier and freight companies I called were quoting sky high prices or -worst- they put down the phone with "sorry we don't deal with this"...one, after personally going into their office, didn't "find the time" yet to call back or send an email...
Uffff...that was my whinge for this week....

2008 harvest finished

Finally I have a bit of time to update you on the last weeks happenings.
We finished picking ! :-) Paul is still busy in the winery pressing, transferring and continuously cleaning and recording ....
Eszter and Jonny arrived on the 7-th and we started picking the Tiger Blood material the next day.
On the 10-th friends and family descended on the vineyard...balmy weather, sunshine and 20 pairs of industrious hands made light work of the day's picking.
Picker buckets, bins and vats were filling up fast! By 2 PM we had nearly 2 tones picked, some nicks on little fingers and battle wounds on Timur's lip inflicted by Mango :-) Poor Timur...it was his first time in a fight and he was VERY surprised. Mango is half his size but with an overinflated ego :-)) He just couldn't stand a giant, lumbering blob of awkwardness in his way. Mango bit his great hanging lip... Timur pinned him down ...growls ... shouts (from the humans) ...first aid kit ready-handy ...it was an animated day :-)))
The new bogracs (billy) turned out to be too small for such a large gathering. Solution?... a custom-cast one -for next year- in one of Hobart's foundries.
Our HelpX guest -Hannah from USA, Oregon- arrived next week.
She helped pick the rest of the grapes and she was busy in the winery too...:-))
Pinot in fermenting vat.

Thanks to everyone for the help and we hope that next year will be the same!

Still picking....

Not long now to finish this harvest. 2 more days and it will be over....

Picking

We are going full bore!
Grapes are coming out of our ears :-)) and going into every receptacle that can be used as a fermentation vat. EVERYTHING is full in the winery and we are only half way through....
Tomorrow frenzied phone calls to locate more vats AND get it here ASAP.
Picture story coming after we are over this bumper crop vintage...:-)))

Our website

It is in the making .... :-)))

We picked the whites yesterday for the Possum Piss, crushed, pressed and inoculated with yeast. They're already bubbling away. This year secret recipe is.....

....it IS secret, did you think I'll divulge? :-)))... but it will be the best Possum Piss we ever made!

Tomorrow is Janos' birthday. He'll be 22. Looking at him sometimes I can't believe that this tall, intelligent, handsome boy is my skinny, wrinkly, blue and angry baby :-)))

Wine press

Paul is preparing the cellar for receiving the fruit.
He's making platforms with castor wheels under the vats for easy moving and he filled them with water to allow the staves to expand and close the gaps developed during dry storage. He finished the copper chute from the crusher/destemmer through the winery wall, I hope it will function as beautifully as it looks :-))
I printed out the new test sheets on which I'm recording the harvest parameters. Sugar is going up, acid is coming down...everything is on the right track for a nice vintage :-)
And now I'd like to introduce you to Winepress Forum.
Instead of me writing about general winemaking; viticulture; how to taste, select, store and enjoy your wine etc...you can find there ALL the information you care to know about regarding grapes and the juice of it :-) And if you can't find it just fire a question. Within minutes you'll get an answer from this purple teeth community :-)
This is THE place to search and hang out!
If you google it, it comes up as amateur and small winery winemaking. Don't dismiss it as a bunch of garageists concocting plonk! :-)) Sure some of them make wine in their garage but the collective knowledge of these happy, friendly and helpful people will surpass any one expert on the subject. Naturally you'll find there experts too... and not only on grapes... but home kits, fruit wine, mead, cheese, bread...even how to make that Italian sausage you bought at the corner deli :-)
I've found Joel's site years ago when I've discovered mites on my grape leaves :-)
WARNING! Visiting can become addictive!
Cheers :-)))

Icons

I've just found Iconsbymarice and was suitably impressed :-) not only by the talent of Marice and the quality and beauty of her works but also by the fact that she chose to include our St Imre and his father, St Stephen of Hungary, even choosing St Stephen's small icon to represent all saints on her page.
Thank you Marice :-))