The 2010 season is commencing with the early warm weather (Melbourne 30 degrees on the 12th of September) as the buds are starting to push. I have seen green leaves out in Sunbury but we are still a week away. The last of the 2008s went into bottle in early August and are just beginning to settle down from the bottling. It is always an interesting time when one season’s work is completed by the bottling as another commences with the bud movement (what journey will 2010 take us on?). And in between the two rests the 2009 vintage at 10 degrees in barrel.

The 2008s are generally looking very good at this point. The Composition wines released earlier in the year are beginning to show very well now. I expect that these recently bottled wines will take a further three months just to properly settle down in bottle. Please give them this time or if you must open any now give them time to breathe and understand that the wine will be very tight.

We are no longer using the imported La Baronne bottle from France. Despite this bottle being quite stunning its weight and the international shipping and extra packaging required posed too much of a contradiction to our values. In particular, the organic regime used for the past three years in the vineyard, the farm forestry project, our protection of over 100 acres of indigenous grasslands and use of only 100% renewable electricity made the use of this undoubtably beautiful bottle a rather odd inconsistency.