Hands up all those who are sick of the sight of Easter eggs??!
And hands up all those who keep popping them in their mouths saying… “I’ll just have one”!
Just me?! I think not…
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter break. It was so lovely to see so many of you here over the weekend.
And do you know who else we see a lot of over Easter? Out-of-towners. Lots of lovely new faces to share our wine and our story with.
And we love telling our story. Even if it’s through questions that get asked several times a day!
Just in case you haven’t heard the answer to one or more of those, I thought I’d share them with you now.
Here are some of the most common ones…
Where are your vineyards?
Out in the carpark… didn’t you see them when you came in?!
Once we’ve all recovered from that hilarious joke that never gets old, we explain the real story!
Most of our grapes come from one of two vineyards…
Paul Henschke’s at Summertown (otherwise known as the second highest vineyard in SA). We get our Pinot Noir for Sparkling from him.
and
Kym Anderson’s vineyard at Charleston. We buy most of our other fruit from him.
Since the bushfires of 2019, we also get some Chardonnay and Pinot from Alister McMichael’s Romney Park vineyard.
Our Shiraz grapes are from McLaren Vale.
Where do you make your wine?
Rob makes his wine at a contract facility set up to process grapes for smaller producers. It’s called Lodestone and is just outside Mount Torrens.
Setting up a winery is really only viable for the big guys, so there are plenty of wineries dotted around the place that will do all the hard work for you (and at 83, this is a good thing!).
Rob is heavily involved at all the critical stages, but there are younger people at Lodestone who are happy to lug hoses, climb up on top of tanks and get inside vats to clean them out!
A good percentage of Rob’s days are spent here (or in the vineyard) during vintage.
Can you tell me a bit about Rob’s history?
Rob didn’t start life as a winemaker. He was originally a maths teacher at Norwood High School who had never made wine in his life!
So…
How did this whole wine-making thing come about?
It wasn’t until Rob met Heather that his interest in wine developed and he began to imagine life as a winemaker… even though, back in 1968 making wine wasn’t the trending sensation it is now!
To get a foot into the industry, Rob posted letters to the major producers – Orlando, Hardy’s, Penfolds and so on. Who was the only one to answer? Max Schubert, the Father of Grange, of course! He said sure, why don’t you come on in for a chat?
Apparently, the first 10 minutes were fairly awkward, but then they started chatting marvellously. Rob cheekily suggested that Penfolds put him through Roseworthy oenology course. Max said, in essence… “Yeah, why not?”
By 1969, Rob was Assistant Winemaker. And by 1971, he was in charge of the red ferments and for the ’71 Grange – famous for being the best wine in the world for that decade.
Max then personally asked Rob to oversee the Grange winemaking when it all moved up to the Barossa in subsequent years. A natural fit for a quiet, masterful talent. No wonder The Advertiser says Rob’s wine is now ‘about as close to Grange as you’ll get’.
When and why did we start Somerled?
I could go into details here, but I did exactly that back in 2019 to commemorate our 9th birthday.
So, take it away past Maree…
What makes you so special?
In my opinion, it’s two things…
First and foremost, of course… Rob’s wine.
After 55 vintages we can assume he knows what he’s doing by now! And it absolutely shows in his wine. Vintage after vintage of sensational drops that keep our members, visitors and us coming back for more time and time again!
The other reason, is the Moody Family.
Rob, Heather and Lucy make it their purpose in life to make sure that everyone who comes through our doors (or calls or emails us) is made to feel like one of theirs – an important part of their extended family.
And the number of locals and regulars who have become life-long friends is a testaments to that.
And the most commonly asked question about our wine is…
Why is your Sparkling white wine made from a red grape?
If you’ve ever looked inside a red table grape after biting into it, you’ll notice that the only thing about it that’s red is the skin. The flesh and juice are both white. The only thing that gives a red wine it’s colour is the skin.
So, if you can squeeze all of the juice out of red grapes and not leave it in contact with the skins for any amount of time then you can make a white wine from a variety that would normally give ride to a red wine.
And this is exactly what Rob does with our Sparkling Pinot Noir. He ensures the grapes are pressed ever so gently and uses just that juice.
Check out this blog post if you’d like to learn more.
2023 Sauvignon Blanc
If you haven’t had a chance to check in on your email for a bit, then you might have missed the news that we are onto the last bottles of our 2023 Sauvignon Blanc.
Unfortunately the next vintage isn’t ready and won’t be until around June.
So, if you like your Sauvignon Blanc, then I suggest you get some immediately!!