DECEMBER 2016
After a cool wet winter and spring our grapes were slow to start and as befits our cool climate vineyard at 1000m altitude we suffered some frost damage. All the vines survived and are now running about a month behind a normal year.
We had a wonderfully successful bottling in november with BELLBROOK FRIENDS... Alasdair McGregor, Jeff Rigby, Tudor Anderson, Nic and Josee Moodie (to be wed next year!), Scott and Karen Varker, Matt Lousada, Doug Rolfe, Dick and Coke Pollitt, Ross and Sally Smith and Felix and Corinna Clark. Diana Hosking and George Clark are looking forward to marketing our wine under our new labels designed by us in collaboration with the clever Elisa Wood. May fortune favour you all...

SPRING OF 2016

27th OCTOBER 2016
We have had a wet winter and we were bogged in places never wet before including twice in the vineyard while trying to control the grass between the rows. Very late budburst and frost lurking until 23rd October...
It is going to be a great spring for the grass and the weeds, and we marked and tagged 55 very fat calves yesterday.
We racked of our Rose, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from this year's harvest and look forward to bottling before Christmas under our new label design introducing colour for the first time!
Pruning was a big task again but look at the pile of prunings ready to reduce to ashes.

Vendage for 2016 nearly complete, after a record harvest all picked over three weekends in March.
Visit Australianpoetryandwine.com/ for full list of wonderful bellbrook friends. The harvest was started in high temperatures and finished in cooler autumn weather which brought the fverments under control.