Winter Warmers - Gluwein
We know it's our imaginations and that we're just getting older, but winters seem to be getting colder. Or at least it's getting harder for us to get up and out into the winery on these freezing frosty mornings.
This leads us to our topic de jour - gluwein.
One of the great joys of the ski slopes is hot spiced red wine - gluwein. We haven't been skiing for years but the other week we went to the Cowra Picnic Races on a very cold wintery day and on the spur of the moment decided to take a couple of cases of our 2009 Organic Soft Shiraz, a port-a-gas burner and a large pot and make up some hot spiced wine and sell it by the cup.
We were sold out in two hours!
As it turns out the 2009 Organic Soft Shiraz is the one we released in 2009 as a Christmas special, it's the slightly sweeter style red, is perfect for gluwein so we have decided to clear the remainder of our cases, together with our recipe for $80 a case plus freight. Here is our recipe for you to try:
1 bottle of 2009 Soft Shiraz
4 -6 Cloves
1 Cinnamon stick
1/2 Cup of sugar
2 or three slices each of fresh orange and lemon
Toss the whole lot into a pot. Heat slowly stirring untill all the sugar is dissolved. Serve hot and drink with delight.
By the way, we have also discovered that our 2009 Organic Soft Shiraz is perfect for Sangria in summer but we're not thinking of that right at the moment.
An Astonishing Return
2007 Shiraz: We mentioned in our last newsletter that we were scratching our heads over what to do about our 2007 Shiraz. Just to remind you, this was a "quite nice" wine that we withdrew from sale eighteen months ago because we didn't think it matched our 2009 Shiraz. But when we tasted it again this May the bottle development left us stunned. We have been tasting it regularly ever since (that's code for "drinking it whenever we can") and every bottle has been better than the last.
We had more or less decided to hold it back for another year and then release it as a "cellar reserve" at a premium price but we have been overtaken by events and an upsurge in red wine sales. We have sold out of our 2009 Shiraz and are down to our last few cases of Waterhole Blend Cabernet Shiraz Merlot. There will be a 2010 Shiraz and there will be a new release of the Blend but neither is anywhere near ready at this stage so we have taken a deep breath and decided to re-release the 2007 at the existing 2009 price.
For the record, the wine is dark red and has an unmistakable aroma of plums, fruitcake and raisins and has a rich plum and chocolate taste with soft "drink me" tannins. This is unmistakably an aged warm climate shiraz and unmistakably Canowindra. You won't be sorry to own a case.
Salami Smackdown
Our winemaker Graham was recently invited to enter some of his homemade salamis into a Barossa Valley winemakers "Salami Smackdown". http://wineindustrysmallgoodssmackdown.blogspot.com/
Well this has led to an avalanche of local interest from Canowindra winemakers and chefs led by Tom Ward from Swinging Bridge Estate and Margaret Wallington of Wallington Wines and Canowindra@home food group and David Cumming from Define Wine in Orange.
After a little behind the scenes searching we found out that the organisers of the Barossa salami challange are planning a similar event for Mudgee, Orange, Canowindra next year, so we have decided to get serious and start practicing for next years event.
So.....Tomswaterhole Wines will host a Canowindra only salami making workshop on August 20 and 21st. This is a strictly amateur event to nurture our passion for good home made local foods to enjoy with our wines.
If you have received this newsletter and have an interest in learing the finer art of salami making consider this an invitation to attend. All you need to do is send us an e-mail to let us know you are coming. There is no cost unless you want to share the costs and take home some of the finished produce.
Next Vintage
Yes that's our new chiller plant on the roof of the troopy!
Well after the disasterous grape wipeout of the 2010 vintage with powdery mildew we were really knocked for a sixer and started to question why we ever invested so much money in a winery?
Mother nature is a cruel teacher but the reality is that the Great Australian Wine Lake, that is the millions of litres of unsold wine in tanks right across Australia, is starting to dry up, as are our own stocks, so we are starting to prepare for next vintage by upgrading to a much bigger chiller plant to cope with an expected biggest year yet. The huge success of our 2010 bottle fermented Chardonnay ( Champagne) has sparked some new local interest in contract winemaking of this product so we are gearing up to become a serious "bubbly" manufacturer" going forward.
The interesting point is that it was our winemaker Graham who had the foresight to see that if the chardonnay was picked early, at nine baume, for the bubbly base, wine it avoided the ten year old problem of getting downey mildew into the organic chardonnay crop whilst trying to get it ripe to thirteen baume.
Position Vacant
This leads on to staffing the winery .....We have started an advertising campain to find an assistant winemaker/cellar hand for next vintage. This is a hands on casual position which would suit a trainee winemaker who is still studying and needs some hands on work experience. On site accommodation is available.
Congratulations
Finally a big congratulations to The Age of Fishes Museum for their win in this years Inland Tourism Awards and The Old Vic Inn for being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Place your order now
The following wines are getting low in stocks so if one of these is a favourite of yours we suggest you re-order now to avoid dissapointment leading up to the usual pre-christmas rush.
2009 Cabernet
The Waterhole Blend Cab/shiraz/merlot (The one with the balloon on the label)
and don't forget this month's special 2009 Organic Soft Shiraz at the special price of $80 a case.
Happy Drinking
Graham, Jan and Graham
|
