Off The Press Edition 82 - Winter 2019

Off the

Press Winter 2019 - Issue 82

Wine Tasting Reimagined | 2019 Member Events Calendar Winery & Vineyard Updates | Single Vineyard Wines & More...

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www.briarridge.com.au Share your #winestagrams with us #BriarRidge

2019 Member Wine Events Winter Vineyard & Winery Updates

Jaclyn Davis | Owner & General Manager Alex Beckett | Winemaker Alexandria Carruthers | Operations & Communications Manager Steve Pike | Cellar Door Manager Karinda Thomson | Wine Club & Events Supervisor Sue Mulligan | Wine Club Assistant 2.

Wine tasting... reimagined

Hello and welcome to the Winter edition of Off The Press.

With our Winter edition of “Off The Press” we’d love to introduce you to our new team member Karinda Thomson.

Karinda joined the team in March this year – sadly it was after the doggo photoshoot, which meant we missed out on including her adorable little Corgi, Monty! Some of you may have already met Karinda on a recent visit to the Cellar Door or via phone and email. Karinda joins our team in the role of Wine Club & Events Supervisor working closely with myself and Sue to ensure the smooth running of the Vintage Wine Club for our members and also our events here at Briar Ridge Vineyard. Her enthusiasm for all things wine and events, along with her friendly nature makes Karinda an absolute asset to our team and we are very pleased to have her onboard!

Things are heating up at Cellar Door, with the addition of our new fire side tastings…Steve, James, Jacob & Luana have created some great new tasting experiences that go beyond the glass too! You can read all about these on page 4.

Alex and Gwyn have turned their attention to getting a few of our wines into bottle after a cracker of a vintage. Whilst, Belinda has finished pruning the vines - we have all the behind the scenes details for you on page 6.

We also have some big news in the way of Member Events!

With the addition of a couple of new ones, flip over to the back page where you’ll find all the details – we hope you can make it to one or two!

For now though, pour a glass of wine from your winter club pack delivery and relax. We look forward to catching up with you soon!

We also have some big news in the way of Member Events!

Cheers, Alexandria & the Briar Ridge Team.

P.s Don’t forget to call ahead and book a cheese, antipasto or mega platter on your next trip to the Cellar Door (02 4990 3670).

P.P.s Remember to keep an eye on the Briar Ridge Vineyard Facebook and Instagram for some insight on all the latest happenings and Briar Ridge news @briarridgevineyard.

Good times and great wines...

Wine Tasting...

Reimagined.

At Briar Ridge, we believe that just like our palates, each visitor is unique.

While some visitors want a traditional wine tasting, others just want a great day out. The common denominator being that wine is for enjoyment. It’s with this mantra in mind that we’ve created a variety of unique wine tasting experiences to appeal to all wine lovers.

The Tasting Bar

Pull up a bar stool and taste your way through our extensive wine list of Hunter classic wines and modern marvels, with a Mount View twist! This is the spot where many of our visitors find their new favourite wine and banter with our friendly cellar door staff about wine or generally anything.

The Wine Deck

A long-heralded favourite of daytrippers and members alike, our alfresco tasting deck has it all – garden and mountain views, single and group seating arrangements and table service. There’s no need to come up to the bar here, we’ll bring the wine to you. The perfect place to enjoy a lazy morning or afternoon wine tasting. Order a delicious cheese or antipasto platter and stay a while…

The Wine Garden

Our newest tasting experience, the Wine Garden, is quickly becoming a hit.

Complete with jute rugs and comfortable outdoor lounges, visitors can kick back and soak up the serenity and mountain views while enjoying a wine and cheese picnic pack.

One of the many benefits extended to our valued Vintage Wine Club Members, is a complimentary cheese platter on one of their visits to Cellar Door each year. To be enjoy from the Tasting Bar, Wine Deck or the Wine Garden.

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- A NEW TASTING EXPERIENCE -

A Private Tasting From A Mystery Vineyard Location...

Enjoy a glass of our Signature Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot Noir on arrival, followed by a vineyard tour, cheese & antipasto platter accompanied by Single Vineyard Wine Tasting of current and available museum release wines.

You’ll be taken care of by a dedicated team member for the duration of this exclusive tasting experience, who will be able to talk with you about all things wine. $110 per person, non-members and $80 per person, wine club members. Bookings essential.

Fire-side during Autumn & Winter.

Create Your Own Unique Tasting Experience Something we are all rather passionate about at Briar Ridge is being able to create...whether it be an amazing wine, a space our visitors can enjoy and remember for a life time or a special experience unique to our home here in Mount View.

Contact our Cellar Door team to create a tailor made tasting experience today, (02) 4990 3670 or email cellardoor@briarridge.com.au. We look forward to sharing with you the ‘Briar Magic’ from our home in Mount View.

Vineyard Update From Belinda Kelly, Vineyard Manager Winter in the Hunter Valley brings cold nights and frosty mornings. The grape vines have turned various shades of orange before dropping their leaves, as they move into dormancy. The days are mostly warm and sunny - so a terrific time to visit Briar Ridge and enjoy the ever changing colours of the vineyard.

Our aim at Briar Ridge is to produce high quality fruit and to achieve this we need to control our cropping levels and this is achieved through pruning. Pruning being the most important time of the winter season; as how we prune the vine now determines the amount of fruit the vine will produce once they begin to grow in spring. We first use a mechanical pre-pruner that is attached to a tractor and passes over the vines trimming around 80% of the canes off leaving enough wood for our team of expert hand Pruner’s to come through and do the final prune by hand.

We keep our cropping levels at around 2-3 tonne per acre, which helps to keep our fruit quality at a high standard to produce the wines we all love to enjoy!

Cheers, Belinda.

Winery Report From Alex Beckett, Winemaker & Gwyn Olsen, Consultant Winemaker Winding down from the vintage season is always a busy time in the winery. We are currently in the midst of pressing off that last three red ferments and preparing the 2019 Semillon’s, Verdelhos and alternative varietals as well as the 2018 Hunter Shiraz blends for bottling.

Needless to say, after the outstanding growing seasons we have experienced here in the Hunter across ‘18 and ‘19 we’re pretty excited to see these wines make it into the glass so you can enjoy them and we can relax for a little while. The ‘19 Dairy Hill Semillon and the ‘18 Dairy Hill Shiraz are undoubtedly the highlights, with the Semillon showing incredible intensity of fruit whilst retaining that fine delicacy which defines great traditional hunter style Semillon and the Shiraz displaying all the hallmarks of its site with concentration, beautiful aromatic spice and generous complexity.

We hope you enjoy your Winter club pack wines, and hopefully we will see you all soon at an event or our cellar door.

Cheers, Alex & Gwyn.

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2015 Single Vineyard Dairy Hill Semillon RRP $35 MBRS $28

2016 Single Vineyard Briar Hill Chardonnay RRP $35 MBRS $28

2014 Single Vineyard Dairy Hill Shiraz RRP $60 MBRS $48

Single Vineyard Wines Produced in limited quantities from our best, estate-grown vineyard blocks, the Dairy Hill and Briar Hill. Our Single Vineyard wines are a true expression of Mount View terroir, combining elegance with excellent concentration of fruit flavour. These wines are the pinnacle of our range and are only made when the vintage year has delivered optimum growing conditions.

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Where passion trumps convention...

Tear me off and stick me on the fridge!

The 2019 Vintage Wine Club Members Events Calendar We enjoyed ourselves enormously as always, meeting you all, and some lovely other people and of course the food and most especially the wines.

Michael & Caroline, Vintage Wine Club Members since 2012.

Saturday 17th August Blending Session & Lunch.

Saturday 31st August Blending Session & Dinner.

Sunday 6th October Members New Release Tasting at the Vineyard.

Saturday 16th November SoHo at Dolton House Roof Top Semillon & Oyster Bar.

Sunday 17th November Final Members Event for 2019.

Members Wine Luncheon at Dunbar House.

For further event details & to purchase your tickets visit www.briarridge.com.au

Contact Us

593 Mount View Road, Mount View NSW 2325 (PO BOX 148, Cessnock NSW 2325) Email vintageclub@briarridge.com.au Phone 02 4990 3670 Open 7 days a week for tasting and sales, 10am - 5pm