The Big Wet Lingers

They say when you don't have much to talk about there is always the weather.
Weather has dominated the hearts and minds of viticulturists and wine makers in the wine growing regions in the south and east of the country this vintage.
Our region has already recorded a huge 446mm of rain this year over 39 days compared to just 167mm last year. The annual average for this period is 295mm.
More than half of that rain has been recorded since the beginning of March when 242mm fell, including 101mm on 1st March and another 45mm the following day.
The Thursday before last, the region copped another 67mm, and more rain is forecast through the weekend and into the next week.
Our district has also experienced one of its coolest summers on record, with an average temperature of just 22.4 degrees.
Summer got off to a relatively chilly start with the average December temperature reaching just 20.8 degrees.
The January average temperature was a warmer 24 degrees but still well below normal.
February's average temperature was only 22.5 degrees for what is usually one of the hottest months of the year.
From 1st December 2011 until 29th February 2012, the thermometer barely reached 30 degrees, with the mercury peaking at 33.1 degrees on January 30. Really unheard of.
So what does this all mean to the grape growing industry?
Lots of rain is bad news especially at the grape ripening stage.
The vines themselves are subjected to fungal disease pressures such as downy and powdery mildew. This can normally be ameliorated by a regular spray regime. But with continual rain, this can be difficult to organize at the desired time with the rain fastness of sprays as well as their length of effectiveness limited. Also soggy vineyards can limit tractor access.
Vines absorb moisture through their roots and 'pass it on' to the berries. This dilutes the juice and desired levels of ripeness (sugar levels in the grape juice) are hard to achieve. Also grape berries can split from too much moisture encouraging disease eg. botrytis.

Cool temperatures are not such a problem. In fact cool temperatures encourage slower ripening which improves grape juice quality such as varietal flavour development and acid stability.
But in our region cool temperatures usually means cloudy days. Cloudy days mean a lack of photosynthesis and a resultant lack of ripening.
As you have already read in a previous post my tardiness in not tailoring my spray regime to this season's conditions has lead to the loss of the Tempranillo and Semillon crop due to powdery mildew.
It would appear that the Pinot Noir has met the same fate.
The Cabernet Sauvignon however sees to be standing up well against any disease pressure but is not ripening due to the rainfall. Before we headed off to Melbourne it was at 10 deg Baume. Two weeks later it was still 10.
The vines still have plenty of leaf so with a little fine sunny weather we may achieve our target of 12+Baume and be able to pick sometime in April. If not it can always be made into Rose', or even left on the vine.
We live in hope.
(For the metrically challenged, 1inch = 25mm and Deg Celsius can be converted into Fahrenheit here. And Baume = Brix/1.8)

A Trip to Melbourne / Part 4

Not having far to go this day, we left Melbourne at a fairly civilized hour and headed down the freeway/tollway towards the Princes Highway which is the coastal route back north.
This was the co driver's quilt shop day (see her detailed report here).
We had sussed out all the possible stops in the Victorian regional towns on the way and there were plenty of them.
First stop Warragul, my mother's birth place, and a thriving West Gippsland town which is in a major dairy area. Lots of nice preserved historic buildings in the town as well.
The quilt shop verdict? Reasonable.
Next stop was Morwell which is in the heart of Victoria's energy centre, the Latrobe Valley, with the huge Yallourn open cut brown coal mine and electricity generation plant just to the north. No quilt shop but I had heard that they had erected a statue of my uncle, Stan Savige, here.
Morwell was his birth place and he was a World War 1 and 2 hero but more importantly the founder of Legacy which is an organization dedicated to caring for the families of deceased and incapacitated war veterans.
And there 'he' was in the middle of town at Legacy Place.

Traralgon was next. This is a not only a power generation town but there is also a significant logging industry of plantation and natural forest timber, a large paper making plant, drilling for oil and natural gas off shore in the Bass Strait and an agricultural industry, principally in wool and dairy products, as well as vegetable growing. The quilt shop was small but interesting enough for a extended stop.
Next was Rosedale, a small sleepy town with a major quilt shop. I had more than enough time to explore the town..... a number of times.
Why don't Australian quilt shops have 'men's waiting chairs' outside like they do in the USA?
The old bank there, built in 1874, (held up 4 times in its history, according to a small sign) is now the headquarters of a preserving company, Tara Foods. I loved the sign on their window.
A summary of my childhood.

Next stop was Sale. No quilt shop here but time for lunch. We both had a craving for a good old Aussie hamburger with the lot. For the uninitiated this means a burger with lettuce. tomato, cheese, beetroot, bacon, fried egg and fried pineapple ring in a bun. We found a likely looking old fashioned cafe and they 'delivered' the goods.
Next was Bairnsdale, with a major quilt shop, and the gateway to the Gippsland Lakes which was our destination for the night.
The Gippsland Lakes are a network of lakes, marshes and lagoons covering an area of 600 sq.km and are separated from the ocean by coastal dunes known as the Ninety Mile Beach.

We stayed in Metung a small resort village on Lake King. During the holiday season this is a busy sailing, fishing and water recreation area. When we were there it was basically deserted.
McMillans had wonderful cabin accommodation with nice views across the lake.


We did a bit of exploring and came across some local wildlife at the boat ramp where they are kept busy tidying up the scraps from the fish cleaning tables. They are obviously well fed and quite tame. Both the pelicans and black swans walked up to us to see if we had anything extra to eat.

That night we had dinner at the one and only cafe open, Bancroft Bites. It was probably the best meal of the trip.
I had roast duck breast with a fennel and orange salad, the co driver also had duck but with a mushroom risotto. It was delicious. We pestered the chef to divulge her risotto recipe. It appears that the secret ingredient was five different types of mushrooms all marinated in verjuice. We drank a local Lightfoot & Sons unwooded Chardonnay. Now, friends and acquaintances will know we both belong to the ABC Club (Anything But Chardonnay) but we had come across a local unwooded style from Two Figs Winery in the Shoalhaven which we liked and thought we would try another.
We may be hooked!
Next morning we were up early for the longish drive home.
It was a pleasant trip to Eden for coffee and cake along a virtually deserted highway. Crossing the lower reaches of the Snowy River at Orbost (it runs into the sea about 10km downstream at Marlo) it was good to see that it was a raging torrent which had spread out several kilometres wide on the flood plain due to all the past week's heavy rain in the region. Quite a comparison to the river's sad state at Dalgety.

Eden is still an active fishing port on Twofold Bay. Once a major whaling centre, the town's attraction is now water sports, including surfing, yachting, diving, fishing and swimming.
There is also a Killer Whale Museum which has been in operation for over 80 years.
Twofold Bay is also famous for whale watching, which is a popular tourist activity from September until December, when a variety of whales visit the bay.
From there it was on through Bega, Narooma (quilt shop stop), Moruya (late lunch at Cafe' Vulcan) and home.
We had obviously had a lot of rain. The dams and tanks were full, our road a line of muddy potholes and the ground very very soggy. Surprisingly our creek had not burst it banks. Maybe the lake at the beach has opened to the sea and is draining the water away quickly.
And the wet weather continued. We had another 70mm that night.
The last week has been the equal wettest week on record.
Come back, El Niño! All is forgiven!!!!!

A Trip to Melbourne / Part 3

I dropped the co driver off at the convent and headed down the freeway to the Yarra Valley.
This was new wine territory for me although I had visited the area, pre vineyard development, many times as a child during a day out with my parents.
The region is quite spread out with wineries in small groups in quite distinct areas.
My first stop was Yering Station. I knew they made good Pinots and was interested to see what they were offering.
The tasting room was already busy (it was just after 10am!) so found myself a spot and looked at the listing. As always with these places you hardly ever see the 'best' offered for public tasting.
So I worked my way through the entry level Pinots and then gradually engaged the server who with a wink and a nod brought out their 2010 Reserve and some other special Pinot Noirs.
Yes, now we are talking!
No simple fruity one dimensional wines in that lot.
What about a taste of the 2008 Shiraz/Viognier? Yes, that was good too.
Out came the credit card.

Next stop was De Bortoli. Sorry, no 2010 Yarra Valley Pinots left. Try the 2011. Hmmmm, very light, thanks but no thanks.
Then onto Balgownie Estate. Same story here, all sold out. Try some 2011! Ok, awfully thin and light. What about some medal winning 2011 Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc?
Nice and reasonably priced. Will have a few of those.
What about the 2008 Bendigo Shiraz from our other regional vineyard? Only a few bottles left. Yep, add that to the box too.
Then I drove into Healesville for lunch. A very touristy town jam packed with people despite the terrible weather.
Next stop was Coldstream Hills. This winery is owned by famous wine writer and judge, James Halliday with the first vintage in 1985. Vines are hand pruned, grapes mostly hand harvested and wines made with a minimum of mechanical interference. This winery is a little off the beaten track and has a bit of a reputation for high prices so I was not surprised to find myself alone.
Their 2010 Yarra Valley Pinot Noir was a step above anything I had tasted so far.
It had been awarded the Geoffrey Crundall Perpetual Trophy for best Pinot Noir (Class 29) at the 2012 Sydney Royal Wine Show. This follows the gold medal-winning success at the Royal Adelaide Show in 2011.
And the 2010 Reserve was a giant leap above that.
They obviously knew a sucker when they saw one and brought out their 2006 Reserve Shiraz and 2006 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon for tasting.
Time to get out of there despite the 15% discount!

Next stop was the Domaine Chandon winery. This French company has set up wineries around the world to make sparkling white wine by the traditional method (méthode traditionnelle). Having established successful Chandon Estates in Argentina, Brazil and California, they saw the opportunity to produce a premium quality sparkling wine in Australia and this began in 1986.
They also now produce still table wines.
Unfortunately they cater mainly for groups so getting individual attention was difficult. I gave up and did the self guided tour of the winery which included a catwalk above the operations. They were crushing Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and the smell was pretty heady.

Time to head back into town. Yes, Mr. Visa, I am still in possession of my card and I have another day to go.
That night it was another early dinner, Greek this time, washed down with a Barossa Tempranillo and then back to the room to watch the Reds play the Force in Super 15 Rugby.
Next morning I headed south down the freeway to the Mornington Peninsula.
It was well before winery opening time when I arrived so I made a detour through the small town of Flinders to Cape Schanck which is situated at the southernmost tip of the Peninsula and separates the wild ocean waters of Bass Strait from the slightly calmer waters of Western Port. The most recognisable symbol of Cape Schanck is the lighthouse. It was built in 1859 and was the second lighthouse built in Victoria.

There are many walks in this area so I set off on a loop heading down towards the rocky beach and then back up around the lighthouse.
A prominent rock outcrop which stands out at the very tip of the cape is Pulpit Rock

Time got away a little so I made my first winery stop at T'Gallant famous for its varied Pinot Gris (Grigio) wine styles. I tried a couple and ended up buying their 2011 Grace as well as some 2009 Cyrano Pinot Noir and 2008 Tribute Pinot Noir. The latter two were outstanding wines.
Down the road was the well established Paringa Estate. I tasted their Riesling (unusual for this area), some of their Pinot Gris and lead in Pinot Noirs ending up with a purchase of their 2009 Estate Pinot Noir.
OK, Mr. Visa, that's it. You can breathe easy again.

Time to head back into the city. I managed to get myself thoroughly lost in the back roads and lane ways of the area. Not a problem as it is a very beautiful part of the world. Suddenly I saw a sign to a place I recognized, Arthurs Seat.
It was named by Acting Lieutenant John Murray when he entered Port Phillip Bay in the ship Lady Nelson in February 1802, for an apparent resemblance to the hill of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh which was his home city.
The hill rises to 305m above sea level and is a major tourist drawcard due to its natural bushland and sweeping views of the bay.

Back in town I met up with the co driver and we ate at a very unusual venue at the convent.
Called Lentil As Anything, you line up for a buffet style vegetarian meal and sit at communal tables to eat.
Cost? Anything you would like to pay or maybe not pay at all.
It's open all day for breakfast lunch and dinner.
Back at the Tyrian, it was time to pack up and think about the journey home.

A Trip to Melbourne / Part 2

The day we left home the weather bureau had issued a severe weather warning for south eastern Australia. A series of low pressure cells were crossing the country and were predicted to stall over southern New South Wales and northern Victoria bringing heavy rain and possible floods.
How right they were!
On the road to Wodonga the heavens opened up.
I had only seen such torrential rain in the tropics and then only in relatively short bursts.
This was never ending.
Soon the highway was a river with some fairly deep water flowing across causing some concern. We were travelling at 40-60km/hr in order to see and to avoid acquaplaning. The decision was made to keep going as there really was nowhere safe to pull over and we didn't want to get stranded by what was obviously going to be flood conditions.
It was a stressful couple of hours (sweaty back stuff) until we reached Wodonga.
The co driver found solace in a quilt shop there.
Then, after a late lunch, it was onto the old gold mining town of Beechworth to spend the night.


The town's many 19th century historical buildings are well preserved and the town has re-invented itself into a popular tourist destination and growing wine producing centre.
There are a lot of good restaurants there but we settled for a wood fired pizza and a can of coke before hitting the sack early. It had been a tiring day.
Next morning we awoke to news that heavy rain had continued in the area we had travelled the day before and roads were closed, towns were being evacuated and major flooding was expected over a huge area.
We abandoned plans to tour the King Valley wine region and decided to head straight for Melbourne. Before leaving however, we visited the Beechworth Honey Experience. Here you will find everything you ever wanted to know about honey and its by-products. They had around 50 different types of honey to taste and had a really interesting video presentation on honey production.
We left with a bag full of goodies.

Down the highway a little is the small town of Glenrowan.
Its main claim to fame is that Australia's most famous bushranger (outlaw) Ned Kelly made his last stand here at the local hotel dressed in home made armour in June, 1880. He was eventually captured after the siege and shootout with police and was later convicted of murder and hung in November the same year.
Hero or villain?
Cop killer or folk hero and symbol of Irish Australian resistance against the Anglo-Australian ruling class?
The jury is still out on that one.

Then it was onto Melbourne and the Tyrian Apartments in the inner suburb of Fitzroy.
This was close to the yoga venue in the old convent in Abbotsford, had easy freeway access to the vineyard areas and had about 100 restaurants, cafes and bars within walking distance.
We had an early dinner at a nice Spanish restaurant with a bottle of Rioja Rosado and then back to the room to watch the Waratahs play the Rebels in Super 15 Rugby.
Priorities, you know!
There was a bit of a scare as the TV was not working but the co driver soon whipped reception into action and the problem was fixed.
We were both looking forward to our individual pursuits over the next couple of days.

A Trip to Melbourne / Part 1

The co driver had arranged to participate in a two day yoga festival in Melbourne so we decided that instead of flying to the Victorian capital we would drive, taking a new route south for us across the Snowy Mountains and then head back home via the coast road.
While she was attending classes, I would be scouring the Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula wine regions for good examples of Pinot Noir.
Rumour had it that the 2010 vintage for that variety in those regions was the best in years.

It was an early morning start on the road south through some pretty heavy rain.
This is a well known route for us up until Bega where we turned west up over a fog bound Brown Mountain and headed for Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains. We first crossed the rolling treeless hills of the Monaro High Plain. This is prime sheep country where some of the finest Merino wool in the world is produced. The weather improved on this leg of the journey to allow us to enjoy the vastness of this area.
Our route took us through the small township of Dalgety (once mooted as the site for Australia's capital city) where we crossed the once mighty Snowy River which sadly, due to up stream damming as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, has been reduced to a weed filled 'drain' .
The Snowys are the highest point in Australia’s Great Dividing Range which runs down the entire east coast of the country.
Mount Kosciuszko in the Snowys is the highest peak on the Australian mainland at a height of 2228m (7310 ft).
It was named by the Polish explorer Count Paul Edmund Strzelecki in 1840, in honour of the Polish national hero, and hero of the American Revolutionary War, General Tadeusz Kosciusko.
There is a large statue of the explorer on the shores of Lake Jindabyne

A little known fact is that as measurement technology improved it was found the peak originally called Kosciuszko was in fact slightly lower than its neighbour, Mount Townsend.
In typical Australian fashion the names of the mountains were simply swapped by the New South Wales Lands Department, so that Mount Kosciuszko remained the name of the highest peak of Australia with Mount Townsend ranked as second.

Jindabyne and its lake were also pretty much fog bound and after lunch we headed further up the mountain range to spend the night in Thredbo which is one of the many ski resorts in the area. Due to the short ski season in Australia (mid June to mid September, if you are lucky), they are trying to promote the area as a summer resort emphasizing the great mountain walks and the boating and fishing on the lakes.
Unfortunately despite a lovely room at the Snow Goose Apartments which promised spectacular mountain views all we could see was.....fog.
The town was basically deserted. Restaurants open on a nightly rotational basis and we had a nice Brazilian meal with a great bottle of d'Arenberg Grenache.
Next morning with ever increasing rain we headed off on the Alpine Way which crosses the mountains and winds its way into Victoria. I had waited 65 years to see Mt Kosciuszko up close but all we saw was....fog (and a lot of kangaroos feeding by the road side).
So I have taken a picture of the mountain off the net to show it really exists. It's not the most impressive mountain in the world. More of a hill, really and it's a relatively easy walk to the summit via a graded path.

Almost to Khancoban we came across a hydro power station, the first evidence of the Snowy Mountains Scheme.
The Scheme was one of the world's engineering wonders of the 2oth century.
It is a hydroelectricity and irrigation complex which consists of sixteen major dams, seven power stations, a pumping station and 225 km of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts and was constructed between 1949 and 1974. The water of the Snowy Mountains region is captured at high elevations and diverted inland to the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers through two tunnel systems driven through the mountains. The water falls 800m and travels through large hydro-electric power stations which generate peak-load power for south eastern Australia.

The Scheme also secures water flows to the Murray-Darling Basin providing around 2,100 gigalitres of water a year to the irrigated agriculture industry there which is worth about $A3 billion per year ie. 40% of the gross value of the nation's agricultural production.
After coffee in Khancoban were crossed the border into Victoria and headed for Wodonga along the Murray Valley Highway.
It was here that our troubles began.

A Voice from the Grave

My father died just over 20 years ago at the age of 82. Not a bad innings.
His father, mother and he had emigrated to Australia from a very economically depressed Scotland after World War 1.
I knew my grandfather for only a short time. He died when I was 5, my grandmother a little later.
In typical Scottish fashion Dad was a man of few words. I knew very little about his childhood or his early life in Australia. It was something he never seemed to want to share.
But when going through his stuff, I came across 20 cassette tapes about his life that he had made for his granddaughter. That’s 10 hours of oral history.
They had a very special relationship and the daughter was always reluctant to listen to the tapes.
"Too sad", she would always say.
But she has finally bitten the bullet and transferred the tapes to CD to preserve them and is sharing them with me.
I must say it was a very strange experience to hear his voice again all these years on.
And the story has been fascinating so far.
The daughter says that not only do I look like him now but we also sound alike.
I cannot disagree as I ‘see’ him in the mirror most mornings and ’hear’ him quite often too (without the accent) before I can stop myself.
So I will take the comparison as a compliment.

He only returned to Arbroath his home town in Scotland once, in 1952, with my mother.
I remember him often saying that 'people say the bagpipes always sound good from a distance and 10,000 miles is about the right distance to hear them from'.
He was always fiercely Australian but seem to quietly cherish his Scottish heritage. My adding ice to one of his beloved single malts would always earn a stern look.
I had visited some of the family in Arbroath in 1969. I really did not know who they were relation wise but I was welcomed with open arms at the time and spent a rather hectic day with them all. I do remember one older lady thought I was my father.
I have visited Arbroath twice since then, once with the daughter and once with the co driver.
Last time before I went, I put a small family history on the genealogy section of the town’s web site and asked for any family contact but heard nothing.
Then last year I got a call from a lady in Victoria who was researching her husband’s family tree and had come across my entry.
From the information she had, it turned out that my grandfather had five siblings, many of whom had also emigrated and that her husband and I were related.
Who knew? Not me. I was never told about grandpa's brothers and sisters.
But now with these tapes seeing the light of day I might learn a whole lot of new things.

Sometimes Decisions Come Back to Bite You

Some time ago due to my and the surrounding vineyards' experience, I decided not to spray for powdery mildew.
We had never had an outbreak in the 10 years prior and climatic conditions (mild cloudy weather) for its development were virtually never experienced in our area.
Not that spraying sulphur is any difficulty as it can simply be added in with the copper for normal downy mildew protection.
The disadvantage is that it's smelly, can cause some breathing allergies and its application can lead to leaf burn on hot (+30C) days.
And not using sulphur saves a bit of money.
Anyway, this summer was virtually not a summer at all.
We had lots of rain (wettest summer in 51 years) and also very cool temperatures and lots of overcast days which is not normal.
You are already getting my drift here.


Sad to say powdery mildew 'hit' the Tempranillo and Semillon pretty hard.
Curative sprays unfortunately did not do their job.
Powdery mildew delays the maturity and retards the growth of the berries and causes them to split.
In addition it causes off flavours in wine.
So this will mean we won't be picking those two varieties this year.
Thankfully the Pinot Noir and the Cabernet Sauvignon have not succumbed and are both looking good so far.
Back to the sulphur next vintage!

A Weekend in Sydney

As time goes on, we tend to avoid going to Sydney as much as possible. The traffic is usually crazy and it's always noisy, crowded and a little bit frantic. This is the complete antithesis of our south coast environment.
However it's always good to visit the daughter and enjoy far better shopping opportunities as well as eat at one or two of a huge range of restaurants with a myriad of ethnic cuisines.
This time we were catching up with a special friend who had made a quick trip home from Canada for a few weeks.
Naturally the co driver had a list of quilt shops to visit. We left home early and made our way north through driving rain and then across the mid western suburbs of Sydney to Drummoyne and Material Obsession.
This quilt shop was housed in a very cute 19th century Sydney sandstone terrace house (replica?).
Luckily the Australian cricket team was completing the 4-0 demolition of the Indian team in the fourth test match in Adelaide so I took the opportunity to listen to some of the day's play on the car radio while purchases were being made.

Then we went on to Balmain, another older inner Sydney suburb, for lunch.
At random we picked a North African restaurant which specialized in Moroccan food. Not knowing much about this cuisine we asked them to 'surprise' us.
We ended up with a starter of hummus, babaghanouj and taramasalata with flat bread and then a sample platter of grilled haloumi, tabouli, spicy lamb and pine nuts and marinated sardines.
This was followed by char grilled harissa and garlic marinated octopus and cumin battered soft shelled crab with a date and lime sauce.
All wonderful!
Then it was onto quilt shop #2, Calico and Ivy just a short walk down the road. More cricket for me, more purchases for the co driver.
We made it to the daughters in Rose Bay just before peak hour and wandered down the hill to our favourite Japanese Restaurant for dinner. Sushi, sashimi, teriyaki salmon, teriyaki chicken, gyoza and edamame were our choices.
This simple little place, Asakusa, never fails to deliver.
Next morning we drove along Sydney's eastern suburbs beaches Bondi, Tamarama, Bronte ending up at Clovelly for a light breakfast and coffee in a beach cafe overlooking the ocean.
The daughter had taken an unusual picture of Bondi Beach just before sunset a few weeks ago.

Then it was into the CBD (downtown) of Sydney for some serious shopping at Myers and David Jones before meeting up with Muriel at the Malaya Restaurant on Darling Harbour.
This area used to be a part of the commercial port of Sydney but was redeveloped when the advent of container shipping moved the main port from Sydney Harbour to Botany Bay. Cruise ships still tie up here but both sides of the bay are now shops, restaurants, bars, hotels, a convention and exhibition centre and the Maritime Museum as well as other tourist orientated attractions.
One of the the banquets on the Malaya menu looked intriguing and it did not disappoint.
Popiah, then lightly battered deep fried king prawns with chilli and satay beef skewers were the starters.
This was followed by curry prawns with roti cana, black pepper chicken, korma lamb, kwai du and finally chilli beansprouts and snow peas. And of course boiled rice throughout.
Phew! We all rolled out of the restaurant three hours later.
After a late afternoon coffee at one of the many cafes in the QVB we were overfed and talked out so, after farewelling Moo, we headed 'home' for a quiet night.
Surprisingly no one was interested in dinner.
It was an early rise to head south with breakfast at Hungry Jacks (Burger King) on the way.
Well you can't nosh it up every time!
It was a relative easy drive with very little traffic going our way and four hours later we were home.
A really enjoyable weekend away.

Australia Day

Today is Australia Day and a public holiday.
We commemorate the day in 1788 when the First Fleet of eleven convict ships arrived at Sydney Cove in Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) from Great Britain to establish the first white settlement in what was known then as New South Wales.
They had originally arrived a little to the south at Botany Bay a week before but found the site (recommended by Captain Cook) to have unsatisfactory anchorage, poor soil and little water.
Just prior to their leaving Botany Bay an expedition lead by Frenchman Jean François de Galaup comte de Lapérouse arrived.
Who knows, if he had been a little earlier, we may be all speaking French! But then again, his expedition was never heard of again after leaving the British. There is good evidence that his ships came to grief in the Solomon Islands to the north of Australia.
At least there is Sydney suburb named after him. La Perouse is situated on the north head of Botany bay.

In 1770 Captain James Cook had explored the east coast of the continent then known as Terra Australis and New Holland and taken possession of it for Great Britain on 22nd August.
Previous to that, the continent had been occupied, probably for around 40,000 years, by the Aboriginal people and had been known to Europeans, mainly the Dutch, from the beginning of 17th century.
While the Aboriginal people living here today see little reason to celebrate, what do the rest of us do on Australia Day?
The general consensus is not much. It's pretty much a lay back day, what with it falling at the end of summer school holidays and with a lot of the workforce still on vacation.
There are organized events across the nation with the emphasis on Sydney.
The co driver and I treat it much the same as any other day with no special activities planned.

South Coast Wine Show 2012 Results

The wine show is over for another year. This was the thirteenth.
Out of the 118 entries, 6 Gold, 16 Silver and 46 Bronze medals were awarded.
From the Shoalhaven Coast region, a Semillon took a gold, including wine of show.
Not surprisingly the cooler climate Southern Highlands dominated the gold medals with a Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc from that region also taking gold.
Wineries around our area, Cupitts, Fern Gully and Bawley Vale also won medals.
About a hundred people turned up for the public tasting and award announcements.

This number was down on previous years. This was a bit surprising as there is no Awards Night Dinner this year and this was the only chance to get a good representative tasting of the wines of the zone as well as indulge in some pretty good finger food and local cheese.
Then again total entries for the show were also down with some major producers not submitting at all or with a reduced number.
Maybe a sign of the financial times.
The Australia dollar is currently very strong ($A1 =$US1.05 = GBP 0.67 =EUR0.80.) so our overseas wine markets have been hit very hard and there is substantial competition now in the local market from imported wines, especially from Europe and in particular France, Italy and Spain.
For a full list of medal winners, check out the wine show web site.

Clyde River Picnic

The Clyde River rises in the foothills of the Budawang Range behind us and spills out into the ocean at Batemans Bay. The river valley is a pretty remote area in parts but near Brooman there are a lot of rural properties on its banks. The co driver's quilt group had a social day at one of their member's farms and the men and kids were invited.
It was sure a beautiful setting for a picnic.

The kids swam and paddled canoes, the ladies talked and sewed, the men swam and lay in the sun and I did a little fishing.
The whole thing was a "Summertime and the livin' is easy" scenario.

I had been fishing in the Clyde but a lot further upstream many years ago. We used spinner lures and targeted yellow belly or Golden Perch which is a native Australian fresh water fish.
Casting into the edge of weed beds and around structure like fallen trees always brought us luck.
So this time I took a good selection of lures hoping for continued success.

I found a good spot a little downstream from the group and cast out into a weed bed. I used spinner lures, fluorescents, cicada rattlers and even soft plastics.
Over two hours of effort resulted in nothing, not even one bite!
Ok, so "the fish are jumpin' "part of the song was missing.
But at least the view down river from my spot made up for that.
Finally I gave up and headed back for lunch.
Fresh bread rolls, fresh fruit and cold drinks were on the menu.
After that, I succumbed to lying in the shade of a huge sheoak (Casuarina) on the river bank.
A great day with good company.

Veraison

Veraison is a French word that means, in the world of viticulture, 'the beginning of ripening'.
The word has however been adopted into viticultural English and is regarded as an important milestone in the grape growing season.
Veraison is the time when the grape berry has stopped growing and the ripening process starts. The visible indication of this phase is the change of colour of red grapes from green to red (anthocyanin formation) and white grapes from green to yellowish (carotenoid formation).
The berries also change chemically with acids being degraded and sugars accumulated while herbaceous aromas degrade and fruity aromas start to develop.
Due to the cooler summer this season the onset of veraison is a little later than normal. Theory has it that slower ripening and lower ambient temperatures will improve the quality of the grapes.

As a result of all this, harvest will be delayed for a few weeks. We can only hope that heavy rain, which has also been an integral part of this summer, stays away for the next few months.
We don't need the juice diluted and the grapes put under any disease pressure.
So far in our little vineyard, we have seen veraison in the Pinot Noir (picture) and the Tempranillo.
Surprisingly there has been no sign as yet in the Semillon which is regarded as an early ripening variety. Another indication of the lack of ripeness of the Semillon is that the birds have not yet taken to eating the few bunches which are growing through the netting.
The later ripening Cabernet Sauvignon has a bit of a way to go yet.
So it's time to start cleaning up the wine making equipment and think about bottling last year's vintage to make room in the tanks for the new.

South Coast Wine Show 2012

The entries are in and have been collated. One hundred and eighteen wines from twenty four wineries were received for judging in the various classes next week.
The South Coast Wine Zone covers a pretty big area and has two official wine regions, The Shoalhaven Coast and The Southern Highlands. A third area just west of Sydney around the Hawkesbury River is waiting for recognition.
This means the zone has a number of distinct climatic areas ranging from cool continental to warm maritime. Because of this we get a diverse number of wine styles from the same grape variety depending on where they are grown.

The three judges take around a day to get through the entries. White wines in the past have done better than reds but chief judge, David Morris, say the quality of the latter has been improving over the years. It will be interesting to see if this trend has continued into 2012.
My favourite whites from the zone are Semillon, Verdelho and cool climate Riesling. The Southern Highlands produce some acceptable Pinot Noir as well.
The public can taste all of the entries the following day when the awards are announced.
There is more detailed information on the Wine Show web site.

That Was The Year That Was

Happy New Year to all my readers!
For us 2011 started with a pretty difficult vintage. Continuous wet weather made fungus control very uncertain and we paid the price when our Semillon "went to God" in spring. The reds seem to be faring better so far.
The strange weather continued all year under the influence of La Nina and it was officially the coldest start to summer in 50 years. In fact we had our first swim of the season on Christmas day!

On the positive weather side, there were no huge wind storms, damaging thunder storms or bush fires in our area this year.
The same can't be said for northern Australia, especially Queensland, with some disastrous cyclones (hurricanes) and wide spread flooding at the beginning of the year.
The house got a new roof as well as some remedial structural work and we are pleased the leaks have stopped. Worth every dollar.

The cattle got through winter in good condition on supplementary feed and produced 5 calves in the spring. Sadly, one didn't make it (no, not the assisted birther) but that's life on the land. Snake bite? Who knows.
There was a bit of a health scare mid year but things are now going well and all that has been put behind us.
The trip to the USA in September was great. New York, Washington DC and Nashville were all new destinations for us and we saw and did lots. Catching up with family in South Dakota was, as usual, also fun.

We are now at the end of the festive season but summer holidays for the bulk of Australians will continue for another month. After they have all gone home our lives will return to normal ie. quiet and peaceful, on the beautiful south coast of New South Wales.
Plans for 2012?
Travel wise, we will probably stay 'home'. A trip to Melbourne via the Snowy Mountains and back along the coast road is in the final planning stage. The co driver wants to attend a yoga festival in the Victorian capital and I can more than fill in my time in the Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula wine regions.
Tasmania in spring for a few weeks is also a possibility.

Other than that we are gearing up for the 2012 vintage which will start in February.
The vines are thriving under the damp, coolish conditions but seem to have produced a lot of leaves and not the normal fruit load. Hopefully the quality will make up for the lower yield.
It's hard to believe that this blog is over seven years old now and has had over 22,000 hits in the last 4 years. Written mainly for family and friends, the geographical diversity of readership always amazes me.
Hopefully you will all be with me for another seven...or more.

Christmas Day 2011

After opening presents, we had our traditional breakfast of pancakes and then headed for the beach.
It was a warm sunny morning with not many people around. The water was a bit cool to start with but we soon got used to it. This was our first swim of the season. We had the pleasure of sharing the surf with a pod of about ten dolphins which came quite close.

Then it was back home to prepare for Christmas lunch. The daughter had brought down a bottle of Pol Roger champagne so we started with that. Then it was the choice of oysters natural or oysters kilpatrick followed by fresh tiger prawns.


We then put some fresh mussels on the BBQ to open and had them with a spicey home made Italian tomato sauce. All this was washed down with Margan's Hunter Valley Semillon and/or Verdelho.

After a bit of a rest, we bbq'd some lamb filets and had them with a feta, oregano and olive oil sauce together with grilled tomatoes and cauliflower au gratin. I found a bottle of Wynns Coonawarra Alex 88 Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 in my secret stash to go with this.
You would think this was enough, but no.
Dessert was a choice of ice cream with home made chocolate sauce or plum pudding, vanilla custard and ice cream.
We all then raised the white flag!
And a short sleep during what was left of the afternoon was in order.
No dinner (big surprise!) but a quiet evening in front of the TV finished a great day.

Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas Eve dawned with a thick pea soup fog.
It was still hanging around mid morning but cleared to a bright sunny warm day.
At last summer appeared to be here.
The co-driver, daughter and I headed down the beach for a walk and a sit on the rocks.
The beaches have a few more people than normal on them but it will be Boxing Day when the hoards of touros arrive for their holidays.
Town was busier than normal on Friday when we did our Christmas grocery shopping but hadn't reached the frenzy we know will happen on the following weeks.

So, touros, some advice for the following four weeks.
We know you only have a limited time away from work and we know you want to fit as much as possible into your holiday, but....

• running your shopping trolley into the back of my legs while standing in the supermarket queue won't make it go any faster.
• the people who live here full time know most everyone else including the check out chicks and store owners. If we have our normal 30 second chat during and after getting served, no need to tut tut and roll your eyes at the delay in your getting served.
• I know you don't think the 'dogs on leads' sign at the beach means you and that you think it's ok for your dog to crap and wee everywhere and hunt down the new hatched and endangered hooded plover chicks in the sand dunes but at least take a bag and clean up after it.
  
• realize that our beaches are quite long and relatively uncrowded. No need to park yourself and your sprogs one meter from us at the far end of the beach, turn up your music and kick soccer balls/play volley ball/play beach cricket/play badminton on top of us. And please take your empty bottles and cans with you when you leave.
• surfboards can be dangerous weapons. Don't ride them in amongst swimmers.
• beach umbrellas have steel spikes on their ends. These become spears when the wind catches them and they cartwheel down the sand. How about making sure they are safe and secure before heading into the water. No one wants to see child shish kebab.
  
• yes, our roads are narrow and get quite busy at this time of year. No need to tail gate us and participate in outrageously dangerous passing maneuvers to get to the beach 10 seconds before us.

I know all this will fall on deaf ears but at least I feel better now. As one of our shop owners said to us "it's good that they bring their money with them every year, pity they leave their good manners at home".
Anyway we are off to see some friends who own a local winery for a few drinks.
Merry Christmas!