Sitting in my office on the 6th of October 2026. It’s chilly outside and we have had quite a bit of rain since last night and this morning — between 12 and 38 mm depending on your location. It is [...]
The next morning we headed out to meet up with Graeme at Domaine Bott in Côte-Rôtie. Graeme took us out into the vineyards where we spent some time chatting viticulture before heading up to the [...]
I was very excited to show Guy the Northern Rhône, although unfortunately our time here was going to be very short. As we headed into Lyon, I gave Graeme Bott a call. Graeme and I have stayed [...]
We stayed in a lovely flat in Reims overlooking the cathedral. That evening we headed into town, where we had some great burgers and wine at Sacré Burger Reims, thanks to Guy for the [...]
The next morning we started the day at Champagne Tarlant in the village of Œuilly, around 120 km north of Troyes. After a quick walk through the vineyards, we headed down to the cellar. On the [...]
The next morning we headed into the Côte des Bar for our first visit in Champagne, Domaine La Borderie. We were welcomed by Simon, who now runs the domaine alongside his sister. From the moment [...]
The next morning we met up with Jane at Domaine du Comte Armand. Jane is an Australian who makes wine in both hemispheres, and it was great spending some time with her tasting a few wines and [...]
The next morning Etienne and Marko arrived in Burgundy, and with both cars now on the road, the four of us made our way to Beaune. We would spend the next two nights in a lovely apartment just a [...]
On the 3rd of July, Guy and I met up at Dubai International Airport before continuing our journey to France. Guy had flown from Melbourne, while I had travelled from South Africa. Over the next [...]
Over the past few years we have seen trends come and go in the wine world and in viticulture. Organics, biodynamics, regenerative, natural wines, minimal intervention, high-density planting, big [...]
The last time I posted was a rant about planting… Now we are already half way through the season! We are entering flowering now. Some of the earlier varieties have already started flowering [...]
The heading says it. This is not a post on vineyard development, design, soil preparation etc. This is a post on the fundamentals of planting a grape vine to grow old. In South Africa, it still [...]
The last day of vineyard visits was here. We headed out to the Piccadilly Valley. We just went to one vineyard. It was a steep slope vineyard that Dylan wanted to show me and wanted to bounce [...]
We spent the 2nd last day in the Clare Valley. We where heading out to Colin McBryde of Adelina Wines. I cant really remember that much of the trip on the way there. I saw loads of wheat fields. [...]
We are now on the 27th of June 2022. We headed out to Lenswood in the Adelaide Hills. We visited the vineyards of Mickey Downer (Murdoch Hill Wines), Brendan Keys (BK Wines) and then out to [...]
After we visited Cleland Conservation Park we went back to the Barossa to go for a braai at Dylan’s dad. Natasha and the kids went with and we stayed the night. I can see where Dylan gets [...]
I know my blog posts are just about viticulture. But this one was quite fun. The next day was a chill day – a day off. Dylan’s oldest son took me to Cleland Conservation Park. It was [...]
Next we visited the Barossa Grape and Wine Association. We were guided by Nicki Robins from Barossa Australia. It was great to finally meet Nicki, who has previously over email helped me a lot [...]
