Making Wine & Produce

It is the dream of many to own a vineyard and to grow and make wine. The vision of waking up each day and looking over lush green vines and then relaxing at night enjoying a nice ‘home-made Red (or 2)’ was always on the wish-list for Tom and Deb. With a long running passion for good wine, the wine making hobby began many years prior to living fulltime at the farm. Initially starting with assisting friends with a vineyard in Balnarring, and later at Warburton, building the infrastructure and planting vines was early on the ‘things to do’ list. Commencing, over 15 years ago, with the planting of Pinot Noir (synonymous with the Gippsland region) and then later followed by Shiraz. A 3rd smaller vine growing area was cleared some years back (potentially for Riesling) but not utilized.

details

The vines today are well established and thriving, with approximately 300 Pinot and 300 Shiraz, and in a good year have yielded over 600 litres of Pinot and 300 litres of Shiraz. In the early stages the grapes where picked and transported to the vineyards of friends and added to, or made separately, at off site locations. A few years later, Tom & Deb complimented the Vineyard with the establishment of a small well-equipped winery on-site, then the fun began.

The Winery is neatly located under the main house next to a robust well insulated Cellar that comfortably holds around dozen bottles in temperature protected space. The Winery is small but well laid out with a sink and drainage area and adequate storage. Wine making equipment includes a de-stemmer/crusher, hydraulic press, a number of varying stainless steel and FlexiCube barrels, pump, bottle wash, corking machine and capper.

Making wine has become a ‘Wooreen’ inclusive activity with the many wonderful neighbours excited to be actively involved in the harvest, preparation and bottling of the Wine. Annually the team gathers to join the various working bees required to harvest and produce the wine and then stay on and enjoy the following social gathering over good food and wine to celebrate the achievement. One of the most enjoyable aspects is the ‘annual tasting and naming’ where everyone involved in the Vintage tastes the wine, provides comments and from this a Black Duck Farm label is developed. It is this inclusive approach that has endeared Tom and Deb, and Black Duck Farm to the Wooreen Community.