Energy freedom, four new wicking beds...and the greenhouse is finally up!

SUMMER REPORT 2020

The "Tree Change" is complete!

In early January, we finally moved permanently to Heathcote. After commuting to and from Melbourne since 2007, we decided late last year to give up the rental in Ascot Vale and move to the country. That meant giving up my teaching job at Camberwell Grammar after 13 years and basically selling the whole contents of the Melbourne house on FB Marketplace! In the end, all we needed was a small van and the tandem trailer to take what was left up to Heathcote. One of the most satisfying parts of the move was calling Momentum Energy to disconnect the power and gas services. The only energy bills from now on will be our 45kg gas bottle once a year!

After a pretty hot and ferocious December with serious bushfires blazing in the east of the state, January arrived to pretty mild conditions with few hot days. The weather so far in February has been pretty mild with only a few extreme days and even some rain! Perfect conditions for the newly planted Monastrell vines of which out of 350, only one appears to not have survived. We had been keeping them alive by pumping water from the middle dam which until a few weeks back, was pretty much empty. Late one afternoon on Feb 6th, the heavens opened and a massive storm cell dumped 43ml in about 4 hrs, filling all the dams and tanks. 

Incredible what a bit of rain can do to the parched landscape. There is a lot more green around now and the Tempranillo vines have shot out a lot of new growth. The weather has been challenging for the vineyard this year and many growers, including us a reporting fewer bunches and uneven ripening.

The veggie garden has has a massive reworking with building of 4 Wicking Beds. We used cut in half IBC's which if you are unfamiliar with them, they are those large square plastic water cubes. The wicking bed principal is a much more efficient way of growing things as the plants "wick" the water up from below rather than rely on surface watering. So far the results have been amazing, producing an abundance of cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes and a few pumpkins. 

The other great garden story is that after 3 years in the boxes, the greenhouse is up! It's been on the "to do" list since we bought it in 2017 but after a bit of public shaming, it rocketed to the top of the list! Thanks Tarkyn for your height when it came to the roof section!

Rain on 6th of February.

IN THE WINERY

So far this month we have been getting ready for Vintage 2020, bottling the 2019 wines (Tempranillo and Tempranillo/Garnacha) and preparing for the Long Lunch Launch on April 18th. Cellar Door has been steady with several visitors picking up a few bottles to take away. Our next Cellar Door Open is Sat and Sun, March 7/8th.

CELLAR DOOR OPEN First weekend of each month.

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?

First Vintage at Three Dams and a new Winery. Summer/ Autumn 2018

After three years, the first Vintage at Three Dams is in tank! 

On March 3rd we began harvesting, taking 1100 kg of healthy fruit of the 310 vines that we painstakingly planted in 2015. After a spell of blistering hot weather in late Jan/ early Feb, the vines shut down and ripening slowed. Recent cool nights and mild days allowed the sugar content to gently increase to the required Baumé of around 13.5%

This extended ripening period allowed me extra time to finish converting the shed to a winery. This involved slabbing the floor (with drainage) insulating and cladding all the walls and roof and installing the $200 Ebay trough and connecting running water.

With the winery finished just in time for harvest, it was a hive of activity 2 weeks ago when our assembled army of helpers picked, lugged, weighed then crushed the 1100 kg of grapes. 

After a short break of pizzas and wine on the deck....

 ... it was all hands on deck with the crusher/destemmer!

A week of fermentation allowed me time to reassemble the restored basket press in time for another day of activity in the winery..PRESSING! Yesterday we pressed off around 680 litres of wine, separating about 280 litres of free run juice into a smaller 300 litre tank for later blending. 

With the wine now safely in stainless steel tanks to allow for settling and stabilisation and for the MLF (malolactic fermentation) to start up, we can relax for a month or so before transferring the wine into a combination of French and American oak barrels where it will sit for 12 months maturation before bottling.

Time to pause and reflect and enjoy the Autumn sunsets. a great effort by all involved. 

Special thanks to all the people that have helped with their knowledge, physical labour, chemistry skills and general tolerance of first time wine making novices!

Eugene Meegan

Phil Meehan (Meehan Vineyard)

Simon Osicka (Osicka wines)

David Maine (Wild Duck Creek)

Kate Knight

Jeremy Davis

Goranka Davis

Matt Ockendon (Carpentary skills!)

Tarkyn Watt

Alan Pritchard

Jodie Cahill

Jenny and Gus

Fires, red wine and retreating...

AUGUST 2017 UPDATE

Despite some glorious sunny, still days, this Winter at Three Dams seems to have been one of the coldest experienced so far. There have been many sub zero nights and plenty of frosts and fogs in the early morning. Needless to say, much firewood has been burnt keeping the house toasty and the red wine at room temperature! The vineyard has been mulched and pruned and with a bit of luck, should produce enough fruit next year to make the first batch of Three Dams Estate Tempranillo!

It's even been too cold outside for Ziggy who has spent a considerable amount of time these last few months sleeping in front of the fire. Despite the cold, there has been little rain this winter. Fortunately the amount of rain we have had has topped up all the tanks to overflowing which will be great come summer.

The exciting news this week is that I managed to score 6 secondhand 250 watt Jinko solar panels from a solar installer I found on EBay. I ended up paying $900 for the 6 panels which equates to 0.60c per watt. Back in 2008 when the off grid system was initially set up, we paid almost $900 for ONE 120 watt solar panel. This equates to $7.50 per watt! These panels will replace the current array which is not large enough to fully charge the new battery bank we installed last year. The old panels will be re-purposed for use on the new off-grid accomodation cabins.

Winter Update June 2017

Winter Update...2017

Well here we are again in the depths of winter in Heathcote. Cold frosty nights but some beautiful clear sunny days with very little breeze. Its a beautiful time of the year to be at Three Dams. We had a fairly productive Autumn crop of Pink Lady apples for the first time this year as well as a decent amount of olives. All the grapevines have shut down for the winter and have almost dropped all their leaves and the rows have been mulched with straw to keep the weeds down. We'll begin pruning in a few weeks time.

The big news is that preparations have begun for the B&B Eco cabin venture. The plan is to put three Sustainable accommodation cabins complete with composting toilets, grey water systems and Off Grid power systems. Two will be located down the hill on the West side of the property with panoramic views over the property and distant ranges. The third will be located close to the house and double as a studio/tasting room/ family overflow accomodation. A new access road from Travis Lane has been graded to allow easy access for guests. We now have to get development approval and jump through the various hoops that will no doubt be put in place by the Council!

Autumn is here. April 2016

Well here we are again in another Autumn at Three Dams. As you can see above that we've been enjoying some lovely sunsets as the shorter, mild days and cool nights are starting to come. The summer as usual had its moments with some insanely hot (43 deg) days and blustering northerly winds that put everyone on high bushfire alert. It's the kind of weather where you spend a lot of time peering into the horizon over the trees hoping not to see a telltale plume of smoke! Thankfully we got through ok and are now settling in for log fires and hearty slow cooked meals with plenty of red wine again!

The vineyard also managed to withstand the weather but didn't fare so well with the wildlife! All the vines bar one are alive and healthy despite most of the new growth being devoured by the kangaroos and wallabies. This is apparently no big deal in the first year but our priority before next spring is to erected a high fence right around the vineyard. 

In other news, our new battery bank is installed and functioning well. We now have a capacity of 880 Ah with is more than 4 times what we had before and will hopefully allow us a few days autonomy in the event of cloudy skies. 

The extra power we have now enables us to also run our new (second hand) split system AC unit during extreme weather days. The house is becoming more comfortable everyday and Wends is very happy with the new lounge room layout complete with new (EBay $20) rug! Now you can watch the fire and the TV at the same time!

 

The garden has produced the usual abundance of nectarines, cherry tomatoes and also lots of apples as well this year. The new system of pumping dam water up to a holding tank to use for garden watering has been a great success and has meant we haven't had to buy in any water this year so far. Some heavy Jan and Feb showers also helped fill the tanks. 

So for now, it's back to enjoying the Autumn days and moving to inside jobs as we move towards winter in Heathcote again. 

Ziggy of course will get any rays of sun whenever he can!