Vintage 2015 has finished after a protracted season involving a variety of hurdles. Summer consisted of strong winds and hot dry days which involved careful management of the vine canopies to protect the delicate grapes from overexposure. Bird pressure was the highest in over a decade due to a lack of blossom on the native gum trees and subsequently the entire vineyard had to be netted to ward off potential crop loss. Finally, bursts of rain and lightning just prior to picking led to careful scheduling of harvest dates. Yields in the whites were lower than expected and hence the flavours were concentrated amongst fewer bunches. The reds were left to ripen for longer this year as we waited for...
The Winewise Championship held in February each year is an invitation only event, limited to the best wines (gold medal winners) from the most important wine shows around the country from the preceding twelve months. The panel is comprised of a group of experienced wine judges including chairman Lester Jesberg and James Halliday. This year Grace Farm was invited to send the 2014 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon (Trophy Qantas Wine Show of WA), 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon (Gold Royal Melbourne Wine Show) and the 2012 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Gold National Wine Show of Australia) to Canberra for the judging. All three wines performed fantastically well with the 2013 Cab Sauv being runner up in the final of the cabernets from the 2013 vintage. Both...
For the second year running, Grace Farm is proud to support a team of young bucks (including our viticulturist Tim Quinlan) to compete in the SurfAid Corporate Cup, a surfing competition held during the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro. Last year was a great success, with the team raising over $8,000 for Surfaid and getting to surf alongside some of the world’s best in towering waves (last year's team is pictured above with 2001 World Champion CJ Hobgood). SurfAid is a charity organisation that is primarily focused on improving the standard of living in impoverished island communities in Indonesia, particularly mother-child health. The latest Indonesian statistics show that every three hours a mother dies in childbirth, while every hour 20...
