Autumn 2008 Newsletter
I
don’t know why, but
I so love the feeling of Autumn. As the Autumn leaves fly by the window I smell
the rich sweetness of the golden yellow and russet leaves, the mistiness, the
dank chill that somehow comforts after the emblazoned summer. I think it is
all to do with cycles and when we get to this part of the yearly cycle there
is a primeval sense of completion – as in that
lovely Harvest festival hymn, “All is safely gathered in ere the winter
storms begin.” Remember how in childhood we would “plough the fields
and scatter the good seed on the land” – the coming of winter is
presaged by the beauty of the richness of the fall to be indulged in as a reward,
a fulfillment of the year’s ardor.
Epitomized by John Keats, whose poetic depiction of Autumn is unmatched in
the whole of literature – I never tire of “Season of mists and
mellow fruitfulness Close bosom- friend of the maturing sun. Conspiring with
him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch –eaves
run.” For us, this year has been brilliant—the vines have been
bountiful, with boundless bins o’er brimming with beautiful berries.
The Harvest song - lots of fruit with lots of deep rich color and flavor – is
grape growing recession proof? As we all know however the proof of the wine
is in the drinking! 2008 along with 2002 will go down as the best years of
the decade. One day we had leaves the next they were gone – first the
frost, then the winds and then the poor vines stripped naked and bereft of
fruit. Believe it or not we were picking Cabernet Franc in mid November – amazing
- not only did the Cabernet Franc hold up so well but also the relatively cool
evenings preserved the sharp acids which with high sugars matured the tannins
to silky ripeness. Soft - Yeah! Never forget the wine is made in the vineyard! 
If you have been to the winery in the past few months you will have noticed the earth works at the top of the Wingfield which is the part of the vineyard on the left as you drive in. We’ve almost got a whole acre going in up top and guess what we are going to plant? Wait for it! Yes Malbec!! Bill Tonkins, Patricia’s brother, is planting an acre of Petit Verdot just to be on the safe side to the left of the Wingfield.
CELLAR TALK
So what does this all mean in the cellar? E
very
tank, barrel and jerry can is filled with one wonderful brew or another. The
Sauvignon Blanc is brilliant and this year lots more of it. We are bottling
it in January with our best Petit Verdot ever, the 2007 Shaffer Edition in
honor of our cellar-master Paul Shaffer. We are limiting sales to one bottle
per customer! The Chardonnay is to die for and Viognier is fit for the queen.
We’ve
got the bubbly bubbling and the Petit Manseng only just finishing fermentation!
In the red department, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petit Verdot are all happy
campers. No one qualifies for the Red Star this year—they are all too
good!
IN THE WINERY
Well what else is new? Thomas, our master Sommelier has mastered the tasting
room which is no mean feat I might add, and despite the plunging stock market,
com
plex derivatives and credit default swaps, we are up on last year’s
sales. We have had quite an influx of new tasting room staff - Meghan, Christy,
Devon, Brian, Elizabeth and Jeff, all of whom have had pretty much a baptism
of fire in our busiest months.
Our happiness goes out to Laura who has worked with us as a long time. She is a favorite of everyone who works at Veritas. Well Dear Laura decided to get married at Veritas and gets by unanimous approval of the whole Veritas staff the award of the most beautiful bride of the year.
Back to the boring stuff. Our wine club is ever growing. I remember when I used to manage 30 -35 wine club orders per month – we have almost two full-time employees shipping out over six hundred orders this month. UPS actually sent a tractor trailer to load up the extraordinary number of cases. The pickup was not without incidence as we nearly lost a whole pallet loading it up! I learnt a neat phrase from Chris Hurley describing our ‘etailing’ of Veritas wine - get it – like emailing.
FAMILY STUFF
Let me tell you about my
children. At
least let me show you the latest pictures. The big news is Tralyn is expecting
in April. Good work guys! Chloe is
off to Tasmania to work with
the Flying Vine Doc, Dr. Richard Smart, following his splendid visit to
Veritas. She is going to expand her understanding of wine growing and
then bring all her newfoundknowledge and understanding to work on our
Eco-friendliness and sustainability.
Don’t forget we’ve got the Masked Ball for a New Years Fantasy Evening of Fantastic Fun. And Forsooth we are doing A Comedy of Errors by the Bard himself on January 17th. Break up the winter blues with a Sip and Sup evening of wine, food and laughter.
Well that’s all the news from Veritas where all the women are beautiful and all the men deserve it! I’ll get it right one of these days.
Merry, Merry Christmas from all of us at Veritas!
Andrew Hodson
Chief
Bottle Washer and Raconteur