Autumn leaves and an afternoon walk in the vineyard

We had a very enjoyable weekend with the highlight being able to catch up with Michael and William Frost (from Field Blend, Tasmania) and their webmaster Matt. After an early lunch at The Branch in Nuriootpa discussing numerous things including wine, cars, travel and all the other banter that goes hand in hand when you are enjoying the company of good people, our Tasmanian friends headed back to Adelaide and James, Mark and I took a leisurely drive around the Barossa before landing under Mark's pergola with bottles of shiraz, riesling and semillon in hand.

The Barossa was at its autumn best - a slight chill in the air but still enough sunshine to stop you from being too cold. The birds sang happily while we took an afternoon stroll through the lovely vineyards of Gumpara Wines. Mark's dog Blake enjoyed the walk but proved to be the hardest photographic target of the day while I was taking photos for Mark's wine blog.

We returned to the pergola feeling inspired, happy and ready for another glass of warming shiraz. A terrific end to a wonderful afternoon. Days like this make you realise how lucky you are to be in an industry where no matter who you are or where you are from, you are bonded by your passion for wine, be it drinking it or making it. And what better place to be right in the thick of it than the Barossa!

A Field Blend of France, the UK and Tasmania

It's been a busy fortnight with lots of exciting things happening here in the green hills of Flaxman's Valley. James is still tending to our red wines on a twice daily basis and our riesling is coming along nicely too. We made an executive decision (not good for the bank balance but great for the wine, and future consumers) and purchased two new French Oak barrels this week - a Cadus and Sylvain. I don't know much about barrels but from James' attitude toward the outlay at this stage of the game, the wines must be worth it!

A special visitor to the Barossa this week was UK wine writer Andrew Jefford who is based in Adelaide for twelve months. John and Jan Angas hosted an intimate dinner for Andrew, a few representatives from the Barossa Wine and Tourism Association, and representatives from six small wineries that produce superb wines from the Eden Valley. We were invited (James attended on our behalf) and the other wineries were Hutton Vale, Poonawatta, Flaxmans and Heathvale. It will be interesting to see what Andrew thinks of the Eden Valley wines, and indeed, the Barossa in general once he has finished his busy schedule.

Our other exciting news is that our Tasmanian friends, Michael and William Frost, have their new business venture up and running. You can check out their website (still a work in progress at this stage) here: Field Blend Artisan Wine and Food . They have been great supporters of some of the smaller wineries in our area and we are fortunate to be one of the wineries hand-picked (no pun intended!) to be a part of their wine portfolio. In fact, the Frosts have wines from all of our Collective counterparts so no doubt there will be a few trips over to Tasmania in the coming year and that is definitely something to look forward to as James and I have not been there since 1989. Tasmania truly is a magnificent place.

So for now, that's it. The coming weeks will be used to arrange bottling, tax and start pruning so even though we are almost at the end of vintage, there's no shortage of things to do. In between we are in the midst of organising our Barossa At Home dinner and a few sales trips away from our hillside hideaway. Perfect weather for a glass of shiraz and as I am almost finished both the glass of wine and this entry, it must be time to sign off:)