Spring/Summer 2010

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It’s a lovely warm spring morning and I’ve just taken a brief respite, looking out over our newly planted block of Mataro, to reflect on a year that is all too fleetingly nearing it’s end.

Like most vignerons, this has been a busy year for us – starting in late February with an earlier than usual vintage for our first ever pick of Chardonnay. A number of interstate trips to various capitals for wine lunches, dinners and tastings and finally to blending the next vintage wines for bottling. We finalised our 2010 Riesling blends around the kitchen bench about a week ago, and will be sending them off to bottling in early December, for release in the new year. Bottling our wines a little later than most and keeping our Riesling on light lees for 8 months has really become a hallmark of our style. We’ll be bottling the 2008 Shiraz early in the new year and a lovely, flavour packed, savoury red blend too.....

I’ve gone into more detail about the goings on @ Radford Wines in the rest of this newsletter, from vintage to vines and what’s happening on the farm. You’ll notice there’s quite an emphasis on food & cooking in this issue. Having trained and worked as a chef for many years and now responsible for making our wines I’ve been working towards creating an even greater balance between these two loves of ours. These range from new tasting menu experiences to the “Radford Kitchen Cooking schools”. Over the years, many of our customers have asked for suggestions and ideas for dishes to match with our wines, so after a number of these requests I’ll be sending out a monthly recipe, starting in December just in time for some festive season inspiration – I’d love your feedback and do let me know if you’d prefer not to receive these monthly emails.

Enjoy and many blessings for the festive season.

Gill & Ben Radford

Vintage 2010

Another fabulous vintage for this year – possibly the best vintage Eden Valley has seen since 2002! And that’s saying something especially after such great results with 2009 Riesling and Shiraz vintages.

Following on from a lovely spring with good rains, and in turn a full dam - the lead up to the season boded well for a good vintage. A minor glitch with the November 2009 heatwave, didn’t have any adverse effects on fruit set or yield as the berries were only pea sized at the time, and hadn’t gone through veraison yet.

In terms of fruit flavour – we’ve seen great balance, with firm acidity & tannin structure & reigned in alcohol levels this year. In recent seasons we’ve experienced some rather extreme vintage conditions, but this year felt almost like a return to the more classic seasons of old.

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Vines

We’ve been farming bio-dynamically and organically for the past 5 years now which has been an incredible learning curve for both of us. For the past 2 years we’ve taken things to the extreme by not spraying the vineyards with either copper or sulphur ...( both of which are allowed in organic & BD agriculture).

After much discussion, we’ve decided - to apply for Bio-dynamic certification, primarily because we’ve seen the incredible improvement in soil health, vineyard diversity, flavour and quality of the wines , but also so that our customers too can benefit from the wines we produce which are grown ethically, nurtured by hand and have no added chemicals.

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On the Farm

Last year we endeavoured to save our property’s original stone cottage from ruin. It’s taken a long time, but we’ve eventually saved the building, and have started to use the space on an ad hoc basis for cellar door activities even though there’s still a long process involved to complete the project.

Our aim is to create a sustainable building with composting toilets, rainwater tanks, solar energy, a whole lot of love and a garden space for outdoor alfresco dining in the Spring / Summer. We’ll eventually open the space as a cellar door for a couple of weeks during the year, but until that time tastings around the kitchen bench at home will have to do! More to come on this later....

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@ Home with Radford Wines

Being a small hands on winery we love to catch up and interact with our customers whenever possible. Although the cellar door isn’t a reality yet, we’re always available for an impromptu tasting around the kitchen bench, vineyard tour or a general catch up. So if you’re in the area, or making a special trip to the Barossa, give us a call to arrange a time and pop in for a tasting.

We’ve also been working on some great food & wine pairing concepts in recent months which gives me a great excuse to slip back into my chef’s clogs, don apron and create a world of flavour.

These bespoke experiences have been created to offer our customers a unique insight into our wines and perfect food partners to accompany them.

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Radford Kitchen

Forage, Cook, Savour...

The “Radford Kitchen” is another lovely project that has gathered a real “underground” following, mostly via word of mouth and referral.

These intimate cooking schools are right at the core of what Radford Wines is all about. The opportunity to create flavour, immerse yourself in the heart of our home & winery and share in the abundance of our bio-dynamic vegetable garden, local lamb, poultry & beef producers and of course get a real feel for what goes on behind the scenes in the cellar. And after all that work, sit back and reap the rewards of your labour and ours!

"Working with Gill Radford, caterer extraordinaire and passionate chef, has been such a bonus. The energy of working with Gill during the past few years has made my life as easy as it could be, not least because we are both driven by the imperative to find fresh ideas for using the seasonal produce that is so central to what we do." Maggie Beer

Contact us for more information.

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