Mad Dog 2005 Shiraz now on sale!

Two pieces of news this week from Mad Dog.

Since our last Mad Dog release we have appointed Corney and Barrow as our UK agent, they are indeed the fine wine supplier to the Queen.

We are excited to announce the release of our 2005 Mad Dog Shiraz. This is old vine (35-40 year old) fruit from our own family vineyard at Vine Vale, in the Barossa Valley. It is picked ripe but not overdone (this is 14.5% alcohol) and nestles in the best French oak (Damy coopered) for 18 months. The wine bursts with ripe blood plum and blackcurrant fruit and is tinged with some floral and spice notes. In the mouth it is dense and creamy with a heart of black fruits, liquorice and Belgium chocolate. It is fairly tightly wound on the finish with plenty of savoury notes adding to the long, dry finish. This is a great vintage from the Barossa and we are very happy with our 2005.

There is only very limited quantities of this wine available (we have shipped virtually all of our stocks to retailers). So if you find some for sale - snap it up, or you may miss out. If you are in Australia you can also order online at http://www.dortodoor.com/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?id=521&nav_cat_id=166&nav_top_id=58.

This week: 24th. August

Weather Report Week Ending 24/8/07

Maximum Temperature for the week 20.0C (68F) on Fri. 5 readings above our monthly average of 14.6C.

Minimum Temperature for the week 0.0C (32F) on Mon. All 7 readings below our monthly average of 5.0C.

Rainfall for the Week 0.8mm (2 points) 3 days of rain.

Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.

A beautiful Spring week for us here in the Barossa (and it is not even Spring yet!). The little bit of rain this week was nothing more than some foggy mornings that made enough moisture to measure. The sap has begun to flow in most varieties, however there has not yet been any signs of bud burst. I would expect to see the first signs of this in the next couple of weeks. We are still hanging out for a decent shower of rain, but the forecasts for the next week are not at all promising.

This week in the vineyard:

We have been continuing to do odds and ends type jobs - fixing trellis, preparing for replanting and general maintenance. I am now mowing down cover crop as fast as I can - I am very concerned about our sub soil moisture levels. With the expected water restrictions that we will be having this year, it is critical that we preserve as much moisture as we can. Rain is what we need most. This weeks photo is a combination of 5 photos stitched together in Photoshop, showing the Barossa ranges still looking very lush and green. I suspect that we will start to see some of the grass withering shortly, without any substantial rainfall.

Elton John live in the Barossa

Tickets have now gone on sale for Elton John's Rocket man solo tour concert here in the Barossa Valley on Saturday 24th November. The concert will be held under the stars at the Barossa Arts and Convention centre, in Tanunda. More details can be found at http://www.barossaconvention.org/elton.html. Tickets start at $86 for general admission and can be purchased through venuetix - http://eventfeed.eventshop.com.au/public/htmlfeeditemview.php?itemid=5037&userid=39&check=f4ac4122ee48c213eec816f4d7944ea6&affid=venuetix. Should be a terrific night, I will be there! In fact my wife and I will be walking there. Our vineyards are only just around the corner from the convention centre.

This week: 17th. August

Weather Report Week Ending 17/8/07

The official weather station at Nuriootpa has been down most of this week, so I am using figures from Roseworthy, about 20km from our vineyards.

Maximum Temperature for the week 20.2C (68F) on Sat. 2 readings above our monthly average of 14.6C.Minimum Temperature for the week -1.0C (30F) on Mon. 3 readings above our monthly average of 5.0C.Rainfall for the Week 4.0mm (11 points) 3 days of rain.

Weather data thanks to BOM & Roseworthy agriculture Research Centre.

Yet another fairly dry week here in the Barossa Valley. The figures I have are not for the station at Nuriootpa, but they should still be in the ball park for here. Just very light rainfall, what has happened to the major downfalls? Other parts of the world are having far too much rain - we would like just one heavy downfall.

This week in the vineyard:

We have now taken a break from the last of our pruning, our staff have been removing vines ready for replanting and some other odds and ends of trellising. I have started setting up a side by side trial of two different treatments for Eutypa in one of our old blocks of Shiraz. I may report on this once I have finished treating the vines in the trial (approx 400 vines in total). I have also been continuing to mow down our cover crop when the weather has been suitable. The photo this week shows our top grafted Sauv. Blanc, now all pruned and tied down at sun set.

This week: 10th. August

Weather Report Week Ending 10/8/07
Maximum Temperature for the week 20.0C (68F) on Fri. 5 readings above our monthly average of 14.6C.
Minimum Temperature for the week 3.0C (37F) on Tue. 5 readings above our monthly average of 5.0C.
Rainfall for the Week 8.0mm (23 points) 3 days of rain.
Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.

The weather has begun to warm up and dry out. We have had a week of fairly mild temperatures, with strong drying northerly winds most of the week. We are still hoping for substantial rainfall to turn this season from a barely average season into a wet one.


This week in the vineyard:
We have now finished pruning and tying on, our block of Sauvinion Blanc that was top grafted last spring. We just have a block of young Chardonnay to go now. I have begun mowing down the weeds in the rows that did not get covercrop sown in them. I am also putting out a pre-emergent herbicide under the vines with the same pass, in blocks where we are having trouble controlling the weeds. We usually spray all undervine areas at this time of year - but to try to save us some money, I am just targeting problem areas. I will be going back in a week or so to mow down the covercrop. Sorry no vineyard picture this week, instead we went to the super special stage of Rally Australia at the Angaston oval and I have a shot of Dean Herridge's Subaru Impezza WRX taken during their first run through the special stage. My whole family had a great time watching the cars flying past! I hope they will run this event again here in the Barossa Valley.

This week: 3rd. August

Weather Report Week Ending 3/8/07
Maximum Temperature for the week 16.9C (62F) on Tue. 5 readings above our monthly average of 14.6C.
Minimum Temperature for the week 5.8C (42F) on Fri. 7 readings above our monthly average of 5.0C.
Rainfall for the Week 17.8mm (50 points) 5 days of rain.
Weather data thanks to BOM & Nuriootpa Viticulture Research Centre.


A nice wet week for us this week. While we have had some very useful falls, they have been reasonably light, we are still looking for some heavy soaking rain. The forecast is not looking all that good. Last month we received 59.6mm of rain, which was about 10mm above our average for July.


This week in the vineyard:

We are continuing to finish pruning the last of our young blocks of vines. As I reported in an earlier post, I have spent the week at the 13th Australian Wine Industry Technical conference. In fact I have been to several conferences. I have also been to the 4th Australian Wine Industry Environment conference, and a workshop run by the Barossa Valley Technical group on improving biodiversity in vineyards. I feel a little overloaded with new information at the moment, I will need some time to digest all I have learned. The Australian wine industry faces some very difficult issues in the near future, including climate change, food miles, oversupply, drought and salinity. The photo shows part of the trade display at Wine Tech 2007 - held in conjunction with the Tech conference.