Sun streaming in. Stunning day. At long last the Indian summer is here. We are so lucky. The weather has been dreadful, cold, wet and damp and in some regions all of the crops have been lost to disease, but McLaren Vale is looking very exciting. The fruit weights are climbing, the flavors and colors are Very Good and Very Good Plus (we are still waiting for Awesome and OMG), and with the bright, dry, sunny days the conditions are perfect. You can check out the video of Sparky and the team tasting the juices on the home page of the website. We have picked one block (see photo, Krissy has been visiting us from the US) and we’ll start picking in earnest on Friday.
Sarah and Sparky are doing the very final blending of some of the 2010s. They had a parcel of wine which was destined for Velvet Glove all year, and Sarah (our Guardian of Quality) has just rejected it because it was only 94.5% Fruit Weight, and it needs to be 95%! So Carnival of Love is going to be extra fantastic this year.
We started bottling today, that’s me below tasting the 2LF at 7.30am before giving approval to bottle. What a great way to start my day! If you are interested in any large formats of the stunning COL, EP or VG, be sure to place your order, and we will do them for you while we are bottling. Marcella (Bottling Queen, on the right in photo) has just told me that we can take orders until April 10.
Tarlie and I and our new Aussie Marketing coordinator, Nick (who is training to take over when I come on the US trips) went to a Taste and Tweet with US social media guru Rick Bakas last night. We took magnums of the 2005 COL and EP for the tasting. It’s a great life being Mom to a winemaker! The 05s are aging beautifully. I have been getting emails from lots of the friends who have tried our older vintage wine packs, saying how great the wines are, and now I understand what they are talking about.
We have sold out of some of the older vintage packs, but we do have others still available, at extra special pricing and with subsidized shipping. You can check them out here.
I’ll keep you updated as harvest and bottling progress, and hope to catch up with you in the Fall.
Cheers! 
Please feel free to contact us any time – we always love hearing from you.
By Phone: Toll Free 888 MDSHIRAZ (888.637.4472) or
By Email: helpinghand@mollydookerwines.com