Off The Press October 2018 Ed.80 - Briar Ridge Vineyard

Off the

Press Spring 2018. Issue 80.

Club Pack Wines | Upcoming Events | Winery & Vineyard Update Wine tastings with mountain views in tranquil gardens... and more. www.briarridge.com.au Share your #BriarRIdge #winestagrams with us!

Hello and welcome to the Spring edition of Off The Press

Spring is a magical time here in Mount View, the vineyards have come to life with budburst providing some much needed green to the landscape after what has been a very dry winter and autumn.

With the warmer days now upon us, Steve and his team at Cellar Door have been working on a new tasting experience package which will see you enjoy our delicious wines from a comfy spot in the tranquil gardens with a nifty little table to rest your cheese and antipasto platters on - please call ahead as the garden tasting spots are limited, 02 4990 3670!

Since our last edition of ‘Off The Press’ we held our annual members and their guests wine blending events in August and September. All our members and their friends who attended had a great time learning about the art of blending red wines, catching up with Wine Legend Karl Stockhausen, Winemaker Alex Beckett and enjoying a delicious dinner prepared by Robert Molines and his team from Bistro Molines. Our next members and their guests event is the Sydney Harbour Cruise on Friday November 2nd, we still have some spots available, to book contact myself and Sue on 02 4990 3670 or email vintageclub@briarridge.com.au.

Alex has been busily finishing off the 2017 Hunter reds and caught up with Jaclyn Davis recently to discuss preparations for the 2019 vintage in the winery. With the dry conditions continuing into spring, Belinda has advised that we can expect high quality fruit but lower yields off our Mount View vineyards for the 2019 vintage.

In other news, if you have visited us online lately you will have noticed our new website, along with some additional ways in which you can manage your membership details. If you are yet to receive your login details or have any questions please touch base with myself and Sue on 02 4990 3670 or via vintageclub@briarridge.com.au .

We hope you enjoy your spring wines, and as always, we look forward to hearing from you and your next visit to the Cellar Door. Welcoming new friends and catching up with familiar faces - see you soon!

Cheers, Alexandria & the Briar Ridge Team P.s Don’t forget to call ahead and book a cheese and/or antipasto platter on your next trip to the Cellar Door.

2.

Meet the Maker And his best friend...

Hunter Valley local Alex Beckett joined the Briar Ridge team as Assistant Winemaker in 2016 and was quickly promoted to Winemaker this year on account of his passion, dedication and talent.

While we were shooting the front cover we sat down with Alex and asked him a few questions about his winemaking career so far...

What was your stand out wine from the 2018 Vintage?

The Maker’s Best Friend

Definitely the Single Vineyard wines.

Fruit off both the Dairy Hill and Briar Hill vineyards in 2018 was pristine and concentrated and the wines really reflect this, displaying intense fruit aromas and flavours and elegant acid lines. The Single Vineyard wines look terrific now and will also cellar very well in the medium to long term.

Who is your wine making idol?

Bear joined the team midvintage this year. A German Shepherd/Kelpie cross, he has lots of energy and keeps Alex on his toes and out of mischief in the winery.

Karl Stockhausen. It’s been an absolute honour and privilege to learn and work alongside him over the last few vintages. His experience, knowledge and winemaking achievements are amazing.

Bear’s most embarrassing moment to date has been when Alex told one of his ‘Dad dog jokes’ at a recent staff tasting...

What’s your favourite wine style to make? I really enjoy making textural styles of Chardonnay with Gwyn since joining Briar Ridge.

Provincial styles of Rosé are also fun to make.

What has been your career highlight to date? Being awarded

“What do you call a Bear with no ears?

the Sydney Royal Wine Show Scholarship was a special moment and also having the opportunity to work with Karl and Gwyn.

...B.” 3.

Winery Report From Alex Beckett

Spring is one of my personal favourite times in the winery.

We are beginning to escape the clutches of minus temperatures in the cellar and budburst has commenced which always begins to generate a bit of excitement and anticipation for the upcoming harvest season.

Over the last few months Gwyn and I have been blending and bottling the 2017 Hunter Shiraz - a tremendous year for quality, producing elegant medium to full bodied reds. At the moment these wines are showing a lot of those classic hunter flavours of sour cherry and mulberry with the Dairy Hill Shiraz leading the pack a lovely wine of beautiful spice and weight.

This is also the time of year we begin our winery cleaning program, ready for the upcoming Vintage activities! After which we will look to blend the 2018 Hunter Chardonnays and have them in bottle by the end of the year.

For those coming along to our Sydney Harbour Twilight Cruise on Friday November, 2nd I look forward to seeing you and catching up and for those unable to join us please enjoy your members Spring club pack wines and I hope to catch up with you soon.

Cheers,

Alex Beckett Winemaker

Vineyard update From Belinda Kelly

Spring has arrived in the Hunter Valley. The nights have become warmer and our vines have sprung to life from their winter dormancy. This year we saw the first signs of budburst across the Chardonnay closely followed by Verdelho and then Semillon.

The Hunter Valley had an extremely dry Autumn and Winter with very little rain falling in the region. With all of NSW currently experiencing drought conditions we have prepared ourselves for another dry spring and summer in the vineyard.

Here at the Mount View Vineyards we are fortunate to have several dams for water storage and also access to the private irrigation pipeline that delivers water straight from the Hunter River.

During periods of no rain our main priority is to keep the vines hydrated. We achieve this through having all of our vines under vine drip irrigation. Whilst grape vines are very resilient and capable of surviving long periods of drought, they can become stressed which inturn affects our fruit yields, so we still need to keep them watered to produce plump, juicy bunches of grapes.

Hopefully conditions improve and we get some decent spring rains through October and November for all of the farmers experiencing drought.

Cheers, Belinda Kelly Vineyard Manager

“FIRST SIGNS OF BUDBURST ACROSS THE CHARDONNAY�

2018 Members Blending Session Due to the overwhelming response in interest to the August 18th Members Blending Session, we thought it best to put on second event for 2018. It was great to see so many members

at both of these events, having a great time together, learning the art of blending from Alex and Karl and enjoying a delicious dinner prepared by Bistro Molines.

Save the date for our 2019 Blending events to be held on August 17th and 31st, Tickets $125 per person.

Upcoming Member Events Our Member Events are fun and unique, allowing our team to share and enjoy new release and museum wines with our members.

Please contact the team on 02 4990 3670 or vintageclub@briarridge.com.au to book your tickets to any of these events.

Sydney Harbour Twilight Cruise New Release wines and Canapes $125 per person | Limited spots left.

Members & their guests event.

Friday 2nd November, 2018 | Darling Harbour, Sydney

Bathers Pavilion Members & their Guests Luncheon Tickets now available, $155 per person Members & their guests event.

Saturday 23rd, March 2019 | Balmoral, Sydney

5.

Our Combination of Wine, food & place... MAGIC

Spring is the perfect time to get a group of friends or family together and make a day of it.

Book in a tasting and ‘Behind the Scenes’ winery tour with the cellar door team then afterwards grab a glass (or a bottle) of your favourite wine and take a stroll through our lovely gardens which now feature sculpture works of talented local Hunter artist Stephen Irwin (stephenirwinsculpture.com.au). If you’re feeling peckish post tour, take a seat on the tasting deck or enjoy a relaxed picnic in the gardens with a gourmet cheese or antipasto platter.

And, if you’ve got some time up your sleeves, head for a drive up the mountain to see the stunning vistas from the Bimbadeen and Mt Bright lookouts. One a clear, sunny day, you see the Coast to Barrington Tops!

Braised Sandy Bay Mussels With special thanks to Robert Molines.

Serves 8 | Preparation 20 minutes | Cooking 10 minutes 1 cup (250ml) white wine 4kg Black Mussels, cleaned 2 red onions, finely chopped 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped 4 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped 3 spring onions, finely chopped Handful parsley leaves, finely chopped 2 long red chillies, finely chopped (optional) 10g butter Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste

1.

Bring the wine to the boil in a large saucepan over high heat. Once boiling, add the mussels, onion and garlic, cover with a tight fitting lid for 3 minutes.

2. After 3 minutes, stir the mussels and add the tomatoes, spring onions and chilli. Replace the lid and continue to cook for a further 2 minutes until the mussels have opened.

3. Stir through the parsley and butter, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

4. Enjoy with the Single Vineyard 2017 Dairy Hill Semillon.

6.

Modern Marvels A first for Briar Ridge, the new release 2018 Shiraz Verduzzo is a preservative free and vegan friendly wine and if that wasn’t enough to spark your interest in the delicious drop – it’s the first wine of its kind in Australia, a true modern marvel!

“We are thrilled to be the first winery in Australia to make and release a Shiraz Verduzzo wine commented Briar Ridge Owner and General Manager, Jaclyn Davis. “With so many wine producers now operating in the Hunter Valley and Australia, it’s extremely hard to have a unique product offering. The Briar Ridge Shiraz Verduzzo is exactly that however - the only one currently available to buy in Australia and it’s preservative free and vegan friendly.”

- Jaclyn Davis, Owner and General Manager.

Made to enjoy chilled with friends and family this Spring.

This wine is available to purchase exclusively at the Briar Ridge cellar door or online at www.briarridge.com.au.

New Releases 2018 ‘The Dam’ Verdelho 2018 The Jezebel Packed full of flavour and to be enjoyed Moscato as soon as you can get your hands on some! It was made to highlight the primary fruit characters of guava, melon and hints of mandarin.

2018 Early Harvest Semillon Harvested early to capture the racy citrus flavours with refreshing acidity and a refined, persistent finish.

Delicious on its own or with seafood and light salads.

A vibrant wine style displaying fresh and fruity aromas full of strawberries and musk. A gentle fizz on the palate results in a lively wine that can be enjoyed with friends and food.

2018 Rosé

A fresh, dry style made from Merlot grapes off our Orange vineyard.

This wine shows great length with rich guava, strawberries and cream flavours dominating the palate.

7.

2017 Stockhausen Signature Shiraz Created in the traditional style that has made the Hunter Valley famous, the grapes sourced from Mount View are from low yielding vines. Displaying vibrant deep crimson colour with lifted bouquet of savoury spice.

2017 Single Vineyard Dairy Hill Shiraz This wine reveals a lovely intense red fruit palate complemented by savoury and spice characters typical of the region.

Spring Winemaker’s Selections Mixed Selection Six Pack

1 x 2018 ‘The Dam’ Verdelho 1 x 2018 Early Harvest Semillon 1 x 2018 Rosé 1 x 2015 Cold Soaked Cabernet Sauvignon 1 x 2016 Big Bully Cabernet Sauvignon 1 x 2017 Stockhasuen Signature Shiraz

White Selection Six Pack

1 x 2018 ‘The Dam’ Verdelho 1 x 2018 Early Harvest Semillon 1 x 2017 Fumé Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 1 x 2018 Limited Release Albarino 1 x 2017 Stockhasuen Signature Chardonnay 1 x 2013 Single Vineyard Dairy Hill Semillon

Red Selection Six Pack

1 x 2015 Cold Soaked Cabernet Sauvignon 2 x 2016 Big Bully Cabernet Sauvignon 1 x 2016 Limited Release Merlot 1 x 2016 Limited Release Members Blend 1 x 2017 Stockhausen Signature Shiraz

Mixed Selection Dozen Pack 1 x 2018 ‘The Dam’ Verdelho 1 x 2018 Early Harvest Semillon 1 x 2017 Fume Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 1 x 2017 The Squire Chardonnay 1 x 2018 ‘The Jezabel’ Moscato 1 x 2018 Rosé 1 x 2015 Cold Soaked Cabernet Sauvignon 1 x 2016 Big Bully Cabernet Sauvignon 1 x 2016 Limited Release Merlot 1 x 2017 Stockhausen Signature Shiraz 1 x 2016 Limited Release Members Blend 1 x 2017 Single Vineyard Dairy Hill Shiraz

White Selection Dozen Pack

2 x 2018 ‘The Dam’ Verdelho 2 x 2018 Early Harvest Semillon 2 x 2017 Fumé Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2 x 2018 The Limetta Off Dry Semillon 1 x 2018 Limited Release Albarino 1 x 2017 Stockhasuen Signature Chardonnay 1 x 2014 Signature Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot Noir 1 x 2013 Single Vineyard Dairy Hill Semillon

Red Selection Dozen Pack

2 x 2016 Old Vines Shiraz 1 x 2017 Tempranillo Shiraz 2 x 2015 Cold Soaked Cabernet Sauvignon 2 x 2016 Big Bully Cabernet Sauvignon 1 x 2016 Limited Release Merlot 1 x 2016 Limited Release Members Blend 1 x 2017 Stockhausen Signature Shiraz 1 x 2017 Single Vineyard Dairy Hill Shiraz

Contact Us Briar Ridge Vineyard 593 Mount View Road, Mount View NSW 2325 PO BOX 148, Cessnock NSW 2325 Email vintageclub@briarridge.com.au Phone 02 4990 3670 | Fax 02 4990 7802 Open 7 days a week for tasting and sales, 10am - 5pm

Jaclyn Davis

Alexandria Carruthers

Steve Pike

Owner & General Manager

Vintage Club Co-ordinator

Cellar Door Manager