Wine Fiction: Dark Vineyard by Martin Walker

I thought recently I'd expand my feel for the wine game by having a look at a few novels, to see what sort of wine-related fiction is out there for oenophile reader. So to kick off, I picked up this little page-turner that promised to give the reader a bit of mystery in "la France profonde."

The plot revolves around the goings-on in a tiny rural village in the Dordogne, where it seems an outbreak of Eco-terrorism may be about to consume the locals and their sleepy valley. Into this marches local Police Chief, Bruno Courrèges, who, as well as hunting, cooking, and coaching the kiddies' rugby team, keeps a firm finger on his community's pulse.

A huge multinational wine company is looking longingly at the valley's untapped winemaking heritage and (so far) cheap land values for their next shiny mega-winery, and there is some good, thought-provoking material here on whether the new jobs promised might be good for such a tiny hamlet, or whether something more than land gets sold off when big producers move in. Some themes run throughout the book that would be familiar to many of us involved in Aussie winemaking.

There are plenty of mouth-watering food and wine moments throughout, well-rounded characters, and it's easy to see this would have been great fun for hard-nosed business and political journo Martin Walker to write, presumably on or inspired by his yearly sojourn in the Dordogne.

It's great fun to read, and I look forward to hooking into some of the others in the Bruno Courrèges series... Keep an eye out for them!




WINE MATCH: A Bordeaux, let's say Chateau Petrus 1961?
FAILING THAT: Mitchell Harris Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 ...;-)

-Mitch

Dark Vineyard
By Martin Walker
Published by Quercus 2009

Vintage 2011...Bringing in the 2011 Cabernet

Getting toward the end of our long, late, cool vintage of 2011 and it's time to head up into the Moonambel Hills again for a look at how the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon is travelling.

Some brilliant work in the vineyard throughout the growing season has kept the floods and the rot at bay, and we've got some gorgeous big black bunches hanging there, ready for picking.

Always hard of course to judge what this season's weather will do over the next week or so, so it's time to work out whether to take the leap and start picking.

Johnno checks the sugar content on the refractometer, basically a prism that reacts differently according to the sugar content of the sample inside it. With the Cabernet at 12.5 Baumé, and the weather ahead looking let's say, a little dodgy... 

It's time to get in the fruit, about 7 tonnes, and start the fermentation for our 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Vintage 2011...Bringing in the Mitchell Harris Shiraz

As we lift the cover off the open- fermenter, it's a delicious wave of fruit aroma that wafts out. Like a berry compote dessert and a hint of white pepper to spice it up.


Yep, our 2011 Shiraz is picked, and fermenting away....

In a beautiful little valley in the Moonambel hills there's a patch of Shiraz in a corner of the vineyard, that we noticed last year had some terrific plump bunches of spicy grapes hanging. So for this vintage we thought... "let's have a bit of that!"



Picked last week, the fruit gave us everything we were hoping for... Yummy redcurrant fruit with that zing of pepper on the nose and palate.

A few hundred kilos of Viognier grapes from a few adjacent rows has been tossed in to give just a little lift to those fruit



So, from here, it's a real "Hands-off" approach. Wild ferment, then into a combination of our new and old French oak hogsheads for about 18 months.
And not much else...!




We hope we can leave the fruit to do the talking, and perhaps come up with a delicious, spicy, ever-so-slightly-funky Pyrenees Shiraz true to that little corner of the little vineyard in the little valley up past Moonambel...

Round 3 Mitchell Harris Mates. Get Tipping!!

G'day tipsters and welcome to a sunny Round 3!

Last week was the round of the whipper snapper, with littlecrackers the one and only tipster to nail 8 picks! Nice work Sam.. It's David King leading the way with the Whiteheads and our very own illustrious winemaker snapping at his heels.
We've had a busy week in the winery again this week with our Shiraz off the vine and crushed and the Sangio looking to be hand picked over the weekend if the weather gods are good to us. Don't forget the 2010 Mitchell Harris Sangiovese is out and about and ready to be snapped up! Send us a line on info@mitchellharris.com.au with any orders

And onto the footy...

What a cracking game tonight to kick off the round - Collingwood V Carlton. The AFL's most bitter foes, both playing from a position of strength for the first time in years. The last time both teams were on top for a meeting was in 1988 and the Macedonian Marvel was still kicking soccer goals and banana benders from the forward pocket. So pour a glass of MH Shiraz and settle into the couch for a ripper game tonight.

The Doggies meet the Suns on Saturday and here's hoping the Gold Coast junior burgers can put up a bit more of a fight this week. Adelaide at home after a week off will be a tough proposition for the Dockers especially after they were knocked around a bit by the Cats last week.

Saturday night sees the Tigers facing up to the Hawks at the G and with Big Buddy finding some form up the forward line, Richmond are always going to battle hard. A close call over in Perth as the Swannies fly west to meet the Eagles. Both teams have won their opening two games but Sydney might take a bit of confidence out of knocking the Bombers off their perch last week.

A couple of so-so performers clash at the G on Sunday arvo. Brisbane just can't seem to pull it together and with an injury list as long as the St Kilda teenager's facebook friends list, they will have to give all against the Demons.
The Cats have got Selwood, Mooney and Scarlett back out on the turf this week and at home are a dominant force. Power will have to pull out all stops this week against a Geelong team holding on to their top 4 position.
Who can believe the Saints are winless this year - a draw and a one point loss - it's time for them to come out firing and with the big Roo's 200th game this could be the week for them. Trying to get his 100K back from a certain infamous ex-footy manager might have Riewoldt fairly fired up as well!
  They round up the weekend with the Bombers on Sunday evening at Etihad.

Good Luck everyone and have a top weekend!
Mitch, Johnno, Shan and Lis

Just a Minute... The Mitchell Harris 2011 Sauvignon Blanc Fumé

Mitch and Johnno have a quick squiz at some beaut Sauvignon Blanc juice picked this week in the Pyrenees.

The cool 2011 looks a terrific vintage for our latest Fumé....

Just a minute... The Mitchell Harris 2011 Rosé

We've just pressed off our Pinot Noir, sourced from both the Pyrenees and Macedon Ranges, which in addition to being part of our Sabre sparkling, will be incorporated into our 2011 Mitchell Harris Rosé.

Here Mitch and Johnno have a quick minute-long look at the new juice, which is just about to go into barrel to create our rosé.

Mitchell Harris Footy Tipping Round 2 Preview!

Hey tipsters, welcome to round 2. It's been a busy week at the winery with our Pinot Noir for both sparkling wine and Rosé halfway through fermentation and looking the goods. JH is hitting the sack early tonight so he can press off the Savvy first thing in the morning ..(wow...no euphemisms there!) and then its onto the reds in a week or two.

4 tipsters came home with eight tips last week but it was the Wild Whiteheads who secured top spot with a game margin of only 2! Nice work, but look out - KC and the Sunshine band will be shake, shake shaking her booty all the way to the top, followed closely by the Jedi Master himself...

The round kicks off tomorrow night with the Saints and Tiges meeting at the G. St Kilda have won 13 games in a row against Richmond since 2003 and could very easily clock up no 14. A bit of a training run for the Magpies on Saturday when they take on the injury riddled North Melbourne whilst Port are at home to a Weagles team that just does not like to travel.

And the game on Saturday night is what they're all talking about! There is a new team in the comp, the Gold Coast Suns, and here's hoping there will be a Dr Geoffrey Edelsten Sydney Swans style debut complete with swanettes, tight shorts and pink helicopters! The Suns meet the Blues in a battle of the bald headed skippers with Juddy trotting out for his 200th.

Freo are setting out to avenge their 69 point loss to the Cats in last years semi-final whilst the disappointing Doggies meet Brisbane who will be minus their captain Jonathan Brown, who is still picking his face up off the turf at the Gabba.

Hirdy had a very impressive debut last week but should find a tough game against the Swannies up in Sydney and the weekend winds up at the G on Sunday arvo with the youthful Dees taking on the Hawks who just couldn't finish the job last week.

Get tipping tipsters and good luck!
Johnno, Mitch, Lis and Shan