Cellar Door NOW OPEN and a new vineyard.

November 2019

New vineyard planted and Cellar Door NOW OPEN!

With a few more days of Spring time in remaining, it's interesting to reflect on the past few months weather. Despite some beautiful warm days, Spring this year has been fairly cool with below average temperatures and plenty of cold nights. I think we even had to light the fire last week! 

The weather has been kind to the vines and they are now all in full flower and looking good with plenty of bees helping with pollination.

As usual we've been busy at 3DE preparing for the upcoming summer, erecting a new shed and planting the new vineyard! 350 Monastrell vines went in a few weeks ago and so far all but one have taken and are looking green and healthy. Over the last few days we have been getting the vineyard infrastructure (posts and wires) in and the irrigation lines off the ground.

Monastrell (or Mataró /Mourvedre) is another Spanish grape that was once widely planted in Australia, in fact some say it was Australia's first ever commercially grown wine grape.When James Busby returned to Australia in 1828 after travelling through France and Spain, he brought with him many grape cuttings which were initially cultivated in the Sydney Botanical Gardens. Monastrell was one of the few that survived and a large proportion ended up in the McLaren Vale in SA where the varietal continues to be cultivated to this day.

The new vineyard is located towards the front boundary of the property, down the hill and more protected from the wind. There are 7 rows of Monastrell and next year another 6 rows of Grenache (also Spanish!) will be planted out, taking the total number of vines to around 1000.

The other news is that after much hoop jumping, the Cellar Door was approved by Council and the Liquor Licence issued. Monthly Cellar Door openings have now commenced and will continue on the first weekend of the month. Stay tuned for our special Tapas y Tempranillo events!

2019 Vintage Update

Wines available early in the new year will be:

2019  Estate grown Tempranillo

2019 Tempranillo Grenache

2018 Reserva Tempranillo (24 mths in old oak)

2018 Tempranillo (limited quantities)

2017 Heathcote Shiraz (Limited quantities)

Visit the Cellar Door or purchase securely online.

First Vintage Wine Launch

WINE LAUNCH WEEKEND

April 27/28th 2019

It was great to see so many people over the weekend to help us celebrate out first vintage. Over 100 people made the journey up to Three Dams to sample the wine and enjoy some amazing Spanish inspired food prepared by Wendy. Apart from our estate grown Tempranillo, we also had a local Heathcote Shiraz and a surprise Grenache made especially made for the launch from locally sourced fruit. 

Asturian Bean Stew, Empanandas, Jamon and Manchego cheese and Patas Bravas were just some of the incredible food that Wendy whipped up for the day. A big thanks to all the family and friends that helped make the weekend a success and we're looking forward to next year already!

Another summer survived, upgraded solar and a new washing machine!

Welcome 2019

So it's been a while since this blog has had an update!

That's not because there's been nothing happening at Three Dams, but more likely that we've been too busy doing stuff to sit down and write about it! Since returning in July from summer in Spain, we settled into another chilly winter in Heathcote. Lots of wood fires and red wine and trying to work outside without freezing to death. As I write this, the weather outside is a relatively cool 17 degrees. Throughout January we had 8 days above 40 degrees including an unbearable 45 degree day with a dangerous NW wind blowing. Hot weather in Heathcote is not uncommon here over the summer but usually not so early in the season. The super hot weather usually comes in late Feb or early March.

Despite the sweltering conditions, the garden and vineyard have managed to hang on with the help of the irrigation system and water pumped from the small dam down the hill. In the vineyard, veraison has well and truly happened, the nets are all on and we are gearing up for another vintage in the first few weeks of March. Last years vintage is still in barrels in the winery and improving everyday. The plan is to bottle the wine in April but reserve one barrel which will be cellared for another 12 months to create the "Crianza" style common in La Rioja, Spain.

Throughout the summer, we have entertained many visitors including some old friends from my days in Perth who were completing a road trip and on their way back across the Nullarbor. Lots of family and friends have also visited which as usual, meant lots of delicious food and wine and kids having fun in there pool. On one occasion, Wendy's brother and son, Tom visited from Philip Island so I took the opportunity to get them on the tools and help with the latest solar upgrade. We finally managed to replace the original solar PV array with the remainder of the large 250 watt panels that have been sitting in the shed since I bought them in 2017. We now have a 1.8 kWh system which provides more than enough solar input to power all the "mod cons" we have installed in our off grid Eco house...

                                                 ....including the new washing machine.

Yes, we finally have a washing machine! A Bosch 4.5 star machine bought second hand on Facebook Marketplace has a new home in our kitchen. The only other mod cons we don't have are a toaster and an iron..but who needs an iron in the country?