July/August 2020..COVID-19, and Lockdown..AGAIN!
We're now a few weeks into August 2020, and who would have believed it that we'd be back in lockdown again living in a declared State of Disaster! Unlike our friends and family in Melbourne subjected to Stage 4 Restrictions (curfew between 8pm and 5am), at least up in regional Victoria we can still leave the house anytime provided we wear a mask. Stage 3 restrictions also means, no visitors from family or friends so that means no more Cellar Door for the foreseeable future. The lockdown is in place for 6 weeks but potentially could be extended depending on how things go with containing the spread of the virus.
Meanwhile, things go on pretty much as normal at 3DE. Plenty of work being done around the place including in the garden and vineyards. The last 6 remaining rows in the new vineyard, (now called the Mudstone Ridge vineyard) have now been re-ripped and prepared with organic fertiliser, mushroom compost, gypsum and lime ready for the Grenache planting in a few months time. After a pretty dry July with below average rainfall, August so far has seen more rain than the whole of last month. The three dams are once again overflowing and perfect timing for the new vineyard too.
As well as prepping the vineyard, we have levelled a site above the vineyard for a 23,500 litre water tank. The plan is to pump water from the lower dam in wet conditions like we're experiencing now that we can use to water the vineyard throughout summer. The beauty of this is that the vine irrigation will be gravity fed, as the tank is located higher up the hill than the vines, so no pumps etc will be required.
Winter food production is underway with several different seedlings planted in the greenhouse and a recent addition of some seed tray tracking made up from old fridge shelving has improved the set up. We are also trialling planting peas between the Tempranillo vines, not only as a cover crop but hopefully to harvest for eating. At least 8 different varieties from Sugar Snap to Snow peas were planted throughout the vineyard and many have already emerged. The Pink Lady apple tree has been pruned and some of the other fruit trees like the almond and nectarine have already begun flowering.
NEWS FROM THE WINERY
Due to the reimposition of COVID restrictions, unfortunately we've had to close the Cellar Door to visitors for the foreseeable future. Although not ideal, this has given us time to work on the new wine shed cellar door space, adjacent to the winery. Stay tuned for more details on this exciting new project!
