It’s not often that we get the chance to share our love of Avondale Estate and the magnificent collection of wines we produce here in an intimate setting with the cream of our local lifestyle media. Most journalists, editors and contributors are so busy with deadlines that it’s a near-impossibility to get an entire editorial team together for a one-on-one session with us. So it was with great excitement that we arrived at the Associated Magazines offices in Gardens this past Friday for our wine tasting session with the House & Leisure team.
After setting up in their offices and putting our entire collection on display, the lovely House & Leisure ladies (and gentleman!) joined us for a quick presentation that I had prepared. They listened with great interest to my explanation of BioLOGIC® and seemed duly impressed that nature could be so powerful an ally in winemaking.
We introduced the House & Leisure team to each of the Avondale personalities: starting with the bubbly vivaciousness of Armilla, then moving to the charming complexity of our two whites, Anima and Cyclus before introducing the sweet fruitiness of Camissa, our rose. While the team sampled our wines I took them through our ethos, our winemaking process and some tasting notes on the wines they were enjoying.
It was when we started on the red wine that one of the ladies asked: “How do your vines respond to climate change?” I had hoped for this one – it’s a question that allows me to really show the BioLOGIC® approach’s benefits over traditional wine farming. I explained: “Because we actively encourage and promote natural growth in our vineyards we have thick living mulch covering our soil, this and the increase in humus levels in our soils through the various practices crates the perfect “sponge”. This “Sponge” preserves the water in the system and natural climate control in the soil keeping it cool and moist. Conventional farming has a scorched earth policy – normally, all plant life that is not vines is exterminated, leaving the ground barren and without any protection against the elements. If you dig your fingers into the ground around these vines, you won’t feel any moisture as it all escapes. But dig into our ground, even on the hottest of summer days, and you’ll always feel the cool moist environment beneath.”
Once we had finished with the presentation, we all sat down for some snacks and wine and great conversation. We’d like to thank Leigh Robertson and the rest of the House & Leisure team for their wonderful hospitality and we hope you can all make it to Avondale sometime soon!