Melbourne

Last week we spent some time in Melbourne... what a drag..... Eating, drinking, a touch of shopping and to finish off with a wonderful trade tasting with World Wine Estates - our new Ozzie distributors. 


While the lucky people of Melbourne have such a huge everyday choice of where they will wine & dine The Millton Vineyard has a few favorites that we love to return too:

The brief Millton Vineyards weekend guide to eating & drinking in Melbourne.

Cumulus Inc.

 Shakshouka- Backed eggs with roasted peppers & marinated Persian feta. With of course the daily baked fresh bread and a good coffee.

http://cumulusinc.com.au/

Golden Fields - St Kilda

The new partner to Cululus and Cutler & Co.

 No better way to spend a Grey Sunday afternoon at Golden Fields listening to Records and experiencing some very well thought flavors.  A modern Asian influenced menu that leaves you completely satisfied and wanting to return for more.

It seems that we have a thing for oysters.... & I think we do. While in Melbourne I seemed to take food photos of only Oysters but we did eat a lot more....

Golden Fields afternoon consisted of,

Oysters,New England Loster roll , Crispy soft shell crab, Rustic pork dumplings, Twice cooked duck in steamed bread and the perfect ending was Shredded cabbage salad with Morton Bay bugs. A menu to view

http://goldenfields.com.au/home/

We all know Movida & all love it.

Oysters with Cider & Garlic foam......  wow.

We are a slight fan of  Chenin Blanc. While at Movida we drank a seriously beautiful Demi-Sec Chenin Blanc that went with every dish we devoured 2007 Pichot Vouvray Demi- Sec Chenin Blanc. If you can find it try it and maybe you would like to send a bottle to the Winery also please.

Melbourne, were do you stop.

Chin Chin, Cutler&Co, GingerBoy, City Wine Shop, Coda, and many many more.

Cheers to World Wine Estates for taking us under your wing and also to you fullaz across the ditch for having such a massive interest and support of what we do.

As I type, funny enough, the truck has arrived to pick up Crazy by Nature Dry Flint Chenin Blanc, Te Arai Chenin Blanc & Riverpoint Viognier. Leaving us and ready for y'all to drink in Australia.

World Wine Estates 

James Johnston

james@worldwineestates.com.au

Good luck for the Rugby ..........  

; )

The Millton Vineyard & Ussco Bar & Bistro Spring Dinner

 Sunday afternoon..... What better way to spend a Spring like day with friends, family, 4doz Pacific Oysters, a stunning bottle of 2009 Clos de Ste. Anne Chenin Blanc and sitting at Wainui beach gazing into the horizon.

 

Wainui Beach, Gisborne

2009 Clos de Ste. Anne Chenin Blanc is our new addition to the Clos de Ste. Anne family.  This wine presents itself with chipped stone minerality, aromas of pear, honey & bees wax and a hint of warm wool and starched linen. The savory acidity and austere dry textured tannin are refreshing while a quince-like fruit flavour gives lift and great length to the overall taste.

This wine with the oysters and the ocean breeze is a dreamy match that gave us not only  a visual treat of paradise but a taste of satisfaction while drifting into a Sunday afternoon coma.

Chenin Blogging

We love Chenin Blanc and it takes a long time to get spotted when you produce something that is idiosyncratic and less than 1% of the overall wine production, that does tick all the boxes of normality, that doesn't rely on the use of any of that makeup stuff some use in the vineyard and cellar to make them look pretty, that comes from the oldest biodynamic wine estate in the New World.

Robert Giorgione has something to say about our Crazy by Nature Dry Flint Chenin Blanc & Te Arai Chenin Blanc.

 http://www.robertgiorgione.com/wine-reviews/who-says-new-zealand-cant-produce-decent-chenin-blanc/

 

Hello! We are back after not a peep since 22 October 2010!!

 The sun has joined us again and the feeling of spring is in the air.

Te Arai Vineyard. View from the office window.

Vernal

Rather than observe the beginning of September as the arrival of spring, the biodynamic rythyms we follow are much more aligned with the equinox which follows some weeks later.

Since this image was captured on the equinox, near the end of September, the shoot growth has more than tripled while enduring our typically bracing North-Westerlies, two brief hail storms and enough rain in one day (220mm!) to fulfill almost a quarter of our annual rainfall. Vibrant luminous green life has emerged through a gentle start to spring...

l'élagueur

To the unschooled eye the vines all look the same, creating a daunting sight walking into the vineyard to begin pruning. Each vine, however, displays it's own idiosyncrasies from seasons past. Within a minute or so each vine's potential quality (and quantity) for the 2011 vintage will be determined.

Winter, thus far, has been unsympathetic to pruning. We don't prune in the rain - due mainly to increased risk of spreading potential disease between vines. Hence we're currently about 2 weeks behind schedule.

For us in the winery we relish pruning our superior parcels - we walk out of each row with the vines and  soil essentially undisturbed until spring. This includes burning all of the previous years growth removed from the vine. This serves two mains purposes - repressing the spread of potential diseased cuttings while avoiding the need for a tractor to pass over the soil to mulch the cuttings. While we minimise all tractor passes through the vineyard, we finely mulch and forage many of the cuttings as an essential ingredient during our compost assemblage.

The result. Two canes, each with 3 or 4 upward facing buds, tightly wrapped around the wire.

Fleetingly in the cellar to top barrels the music tends to be alluring and pensive...