This is a longer than usual read from us…so grab a glass of wine or other drink of your choosing & enjoy while you read…

Summer 23-24 had been forecast to be a ‘high fire season’, so in November, Bob decided 6 x 30 yr old conifers had to come down, as they were directly behind our house or right next to the wine storage shed (basically all the conifers on the right hand side of the driveway from the shed at the top of the hill to the one just past the house) We didn’t get the fires (thankfully) but the area where the trees were chopped down was a huge mess & we couldn’t do any remediation, nor any replanting because of the drought.
An area of roughly 300sqm needed to be re-grassed & planted with some shrubs to act as replacement screens…the conifers had been planted to be wind breaks as well as screens. Once harvesting was over & bird netting was brought in (another ‘first’ by 14/4), Bob started running over the area with a blade on the tractor to try & level things out. He worked for ~ 7 days getting completely covered in fine grey dusty sand & had it just about level when he saw some roots sticking up out of the ground…he thought he could ‘clear’ them by going over the area with a different implement…it didn’t just bring up the roots he’d seen, but HEAPS more besides…poor Bob was back to square one in terms of ‘ground preparation’. After multiple ute loads of roots, he could finally start the levelling…. again!
Another downside of the hot and dry weather was the harsh conditions for our young rootlings, planted in early spring. By watering using a 300L tank towed by tractor and a moveable drip line we have limited the losses of young vines but no growth occurred this year. We have 4000 rootlings waiting in our nursery for Spring 24, so fingers crossed, Winter and Spring deliver normal rainfall.
The largest single fall of rain in Nov was 15.5mm, in Dec 20mm, in Jan 44mm. We had a few smaller amounts in these months but we had hot drying winds & the smaller amounts that fell didn’t even settle the dust. Feb & Mar were virtually dry & we only got 2 large falls of rain in the first week of April…by which time vintage was over. Cracks in the ground showing how dry the conditions were summer 23-24
Vintage 2024…hectic!!!
This vintage will go down as an unprecedented year in the history of the Tasmanian wine industry. We have seen 36 years of weather events here at Grey Sands, but this vintage has come in nearly 2 weeks ahead of our previous earliest vintage in 2018. Coupled with an extended dry period over late summer and early autumn, the heat and dust made me wonder if we had been transported to Provence rather than the Tamar valley. There is no doubt it will be imprinted on the wines, especially the mid-season and late reds as the berries carried some delightful flavours. If this vintage is followed by something similar next year then many producers will be considering how to respond to global warming in the future.
It’s been a vintage of ‘firsts’….
First time we started picking 3.5 weeks BEFORE Easter …usually it’s just the Thurs before or Tues after.
First time all the varieties ripened close together…which meant we had 2 picking days each week…very tiring, as we have to put the picking bins out under the nets ready for picking the next day. We pick under the nets. At the end of the pick, all the workers go home but we have to gather all the picking bins & take them up to the top of the hill, spread them out & put a bit of water in them so all the grape residues don’t stick too hard. We’ve been in drought & are on tank water, so I (Rita)have had to be really miserly with the amount of water I used, but still had to clean all 100 bins. Next day they have to be cleaned out properly & left to dry, then late afternoon put them out for the next day’s pick…then repeat!
First time we’ve finished all our picking, including late reds, on 4th of April…it’s usually end of April/early May;
First time we’ve brought all the bird netting in by 14th April with so many leaves still on the vines, albeit colouring
The quality of the fruit was excellent, so we’re really keen to see what the wines are like.
Due to the drought, some of the younger vines dropped their fruit, which meant we didn’t get quite as much as Bob thought we’d get. The garden has only been getting enough water to just keep things alive…hopefully we won’t have lost too many plants! Both our dams (which only get used to water the garden) got very low…lucky the vineyard is dry grown….it’s only the young vines that struggle.
So…’hectic’ for us, meant the pace of vintage going much faster than ever…we survived!
We have purchased 3 new barrels of French oak (Troncais/Jupilles) for a reserve Merlot. The berries this year were small with the thickest of skins. You could bounce them off the concrete like a squash ball!
Tannin and fruit intensity will be the hallmark of this vintage, meaning that cellaring will be rewarded by extraordinary wines.

Time was ticking away to our holiday & we still hadn’t had any rain. Bob spread the seed for the grass & would water for half an hour morning & late afternoon. We had to keep the dogs in the laundry while the watering was happening because the ‘pups’ love to jump up & try to ‘catch’ the water spray…churning up the soil in the process. Bob did this for the week before we went overseas & there were no signs of any sprouting. There was no-one to water while we were away & I thought it was all going to have been a waste of time, water & seeds.
I can’t tell you how delighted we both were to see a fuzz of green over what had been grey dust, in the car’s headlights, when we returned from our holiday.
We returned from our 3 week holiday in Greece and Istanbul at the end of May and have been going flat out ever since…winter is a very busy time in the vineyard (& garden!)
We were very impressed with the wines we saw in both countries. The wines were technically on par to the ‘New World’, nothing rustic or faulty at the restaurants and wine bars we visited and plenty of pride in what is being produced now. The range of indigenous varieties is amazing with flavour and aroma profiles setting them apart from Western Europe but, not surprisingly, between the two neighbours. The difficulty for Turkish producers will be names of the varieties which certainly tripped Bob up.A bottle of Greek white wine..Assyrtiko from Santorini Bottles of Greek Agiorgitiko-&-Xinomavro
In Greece, the white variety, Assyrtiko, especially from Santorini, was a standout. Potentially a powerful wine with enormous length, it begins with an intriguing aroma. The palate is dry and saline and builds to end with a long finish. The term ‘mineral’ is disparaged but seems to fit this wine. The red variety, Xinomavro, showed it could match Cabernet Sauvignon or Nebbiolo for producing intense, structured and age-worthy wines with complex and ‘classy’ aromas easily standing up to, and benefiting from, some time in good oak. A bottle of white Turkish wine made from Narince grapes
In Istanbul the white variety, Narince, showed fresh citrusy fruit while the red variety, Bogazkere, had the fruit, tannins and acidity to give age worthy wines.
So many intriguing varieties but only one lifetime to work with them in our little vineyard!
I guess you have to ‘call it a day’ at some point when building a vineyard….
Winter ’24 started hard & cold…we had 7 increasingly heavy frosts in a row, then a week of no frosts, then another 7 in a row. The drought finally broke in July, luckily, with only a couple of heavy falls of rain but no torrential falls & we’re very happy that both dams are now full. View of Grey Sands with autumn coloured vines from entrance
Bob has been spreading chook poo pellets, Seamungus, Wormhit, blood & bone & calcium through the vineyard..usually whenever a decent fall of rain has been predicted. Bob is expecting to see lots of growth in the vineyard & hopefully in the young vines.
If you’ve made it to the end of this long Newsletter…thank you!
So sorry it’s all come at once…we’ll try to make the next one more timely!
Cheers
Bob & Rita