Some Tastings- By Maggie
This week was my first tastings of some of our soon-to-be-released, new wines. Trying the GPE Vic Bloc Chards is always a pleasure, and this one was no exception. It was bright but toasty, fruity but spicy; a dynamic wine as expected. I was similarly impressed by the 2008 Trumpour’s Mill Pinot Noir and Cab Franc. Every year older our vines get, the more typical and interesting these wines get. It is really a neat feeling after almost a decade in this project. But from these tastings, what I was most excited about was our 2008 Riesling and our 2009 Rosé. In the dead of winter trying these bright, light, fruity slightly off-dry wines—the kinds of wines that are all any of us drink come June—remind me that it’s not going to be winter forever. In fact, I think that I am going to start drinking them now in anticipation. Or maybe I’ll enjoy another month of oaked chards and big reds while we wait for these wines to be bottled…
New Year New Decade
The winery is quiet these days even the cellar all the wine tucked away to setle or age. I have been thinking alot about our plans for the coming years pausing for a moment to see if the path we are on is the one we meant to travel. So much has changed in the last ten years it is hard sometimes to even remember life before the vineyards …….. I know my children really don’t.
This is a sad new year. It is with regret I write that Gerald Heath died suddenly around 5pm on December 30, 2009 on his way to Wellington. Gerry was one of the first men to work in our fields with us and I have never met a more determined worker. But Gerry was so much more than that, he was unfailingly kind and thoughtful,more than once he came to my rescue. So it is with great sadness that I mark his passing from our lives. Soon he will travel back on last time to Newfoundland but I will not forget his contribution or his smile.
The old year has passed and the new must be embraced. The hills are high and the winter suprisingly mild so far. Just three short months must pass before we once again head out to the vineyards to wrestle with mother nature for another vintage
