Summer is here again!

Summer is officially here and things are in full swing at Three Dams. 

We're very excited to report that all 311 Tempranillo vines that we planted back at the beginning of October have taken and have already emerged from the grow tubes. After a bit of trouble with the marauding wallabies, the vines have managed to attach themselves to the cordon wire and are well on the way. Of course, the lack of rain this time of the year has proved a challenge but we have utilised our dam water this year and yesterday pumped 10,000 litres into a holding tank to keep the vines happy.

The other great news is the new pool! A few weekends work and 7500 litres of water and its up and running just in time for the hot weather. 

As for technical upgrades, the new combined inverter/charge controller is installed and working well and the upgrade to a 24v battery bank is proving a lot more stable and reliable. Everything can also now be monitored with the laptop.

Exciting Times!

So here we are again in another Heathcote Spring with everything looking green despite the lack of rain this year. Fresh back from the European sojourn culminating in 3 weeks travelling through Central and Northern Spain visiting some of the major wine regions, we're pretty excited to finally get the vines planted. After 8 yrs working on the house, veggie garden, solar system etc, we have finally got the vineyard site ready for planting with the trellising and the irrigation lines done in the last few weeks. Our 300 grafted Tempranillo vines will be shipped from the cool room in South Australia at the end of September, ready for planting. 

Many months of hard work ahead but looking forward to the first vintage in 2018. 

Winter has well and truly set in!

With zero and even sub zero overnight temperatures in Heathcote over the last few weeks, Winter is definitely here! Along with the frigid nights come gorgeous clear, crisp days with little or no wind. Despite the short days, It's a really special time of the year with everything looking lush and green. 

The last few months at Three Dams Estate have been pretty productive with work on the vineyard really taking priority. The 300 grafted Tempranillo vines have been ordered and the rows have been ripped and prepared. We are currently in the process of improving the soil quality with lime and gypsum along with organic matter and have begun sourcing the trellis infrastructure such as posts and wire.

We recently installed a new 10,000 litre water tank that will be used to store water pumped from the dams for summer irrigation of the vines.

The next stage in the vineyard development is our "research" sojourn to the great Tempranillo regions of Rioja and Rubero del Duerro in Spain which kicks off next week. Olé! 

Autumn Update

The days are getting shorter and the cold weather is fast approaching. This year will be the first real test of our attemped 8 star energy rating retrofit. With the help of our french HelpXers this summer, we managed to complete the last of the wall insulating and re weatherboarding. We now have floor, ceiling and wall insulation in the whole house and are anticipating a cosy house when the temperature starts getting close to zero as it can in the depths of winter in Heathcote. 

I'm hesitant to say that the house is nearly finished after 7yrs of hard work but with all the internal painting nearly finished, the bathroom renovation also nearly complete with a new solid jarrah vanity top, basin and mixer, all that needs doing are the polishing of the floors. 

The main job over the coming months is to prepare the vineyard site for planting in October this year and order the Tempranillo vines!

Summer wrap up 2014/15

The "long hot summer" that never came was a bit of a god send in the end at Three Dams Estate!

Last year we decided to advertise for helpers on the HelpX website and were inundated with applications from OS travellers offering to spend weeks or months living with us at the property. Basically we provide food and lodgings (and wine!) and in exchange for 4-5 hrs work per day.

We were really lucky to have a young French couple Alexis and Capucine contact us early after their arrival in Melbourne and on a hot day in early January, they made their way on the bus up to Heathcote. They were very keen to improve their English and at the beginning they were pretty shy to say much at all, especially Capucine who we'd nicknamed Nasi. Capucine is the French word for Nasturtium!

As well as being great people they were very keen to work and really helped us make good headway into the long list of summer jobs which included finishing the re weatherboarding of the house and painting the dining room among other things. We enjoyed many delicious meals and numerous bottles of wine together and much good conversation in English. Especially from Nasi! After 10 days together we were sad to seem them leave.

So after 6 years of work since moving the house up here from a Box Hill, we have finally finished the complete re weatherboarding including the insulation of all the walls. Earlier in the summer I installed and (expensive) roof exhaust fan that switches on automatically when the temperature reaches 30 deg in the roof space. This along with the floor, wall and ceiling insulation has enabled the house to remain around 10 deg cooler inside the house in the middle of a hot day.

Right now we are back to work in Melbourne but are making regular trips back to Three Dams Estate to harvest the over abundant Nectarine tree!

We are also expecting Ross Knight to come and rip the vineyard next week.