For the past few days I have been tracking the long range weather forecasts. At this time of the season rain or hail can cause havoc to ripening grapes as splitting and rots can result. It really is a stressfull time. All the work over the year may be dashed in a few minutes
Yesterday I […]

It was almost enough to ensure an array of expletives.  Saturday morning and the weekly inspection of the bird netting was underway.  I got to the last 3 rows of Merlot and found that almost the entire length (150 metres) was lying 10 rows away!!  As if someone had picked it up and just dumped it […]

One game I don’t want to ever play is “nets on,nets off”. The picture perfect vineyard is now less glam with the black nets.  Due to being surrounded by bush and the fact that we have an abundance of bird life it’s simple-no nets no fruit!

Local redgum blossom is an important food source for the […]

Mondays are now assigned to lecturing on “viticultural soils” and tutoring a bunch of post grads. The new Margaret River wine campus (Curtin Uni) is starting to crank up and they wanted some academic weight from some oldies - aka ‘old bastards’ who have been around for a while.
There is a good vibe and I’ll […]