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Home Archive by category "Blog"

Innovations During the Pandemic

By Holly | Blog | Comments Off on Innovations During the Pandemic | 1 April, 2020 | 1
Original Article by Richard Davies

A lack of visitors has forced some businesses to look at innovative ways to stay afloat.

Hemera Estate in Lyndoch is one of a number of wineries that has set up virtual tastings, helping those with a glass at home connect with the winemaker.

“Zoom or one of those video apps that allows multiple sharing, we just organise a time and a place with a few of us and get together … apart,” winemaker Russell Cutting said.

“Nothing too technical; we share a glass and talk about the wine and how it’s made.”

Winemaker Russell Cutting, of Hemera Estate in Lyndoch, is offering virtual tastings. (ABC News: Brittany Evins)

The process tries to replicate the personal experience of visiting a cellar door, taking people on a journey through the winemaking process.

The person at home simply needs to have sourced their own bottle beforehand.

Mr Cutting said business had fallen by more than half since social-distancing requirements came into place.

But he said he wanted to ensure customers were still connected to the winemaking process.

“I think it’s kind of important at this time just to show a bit of love for everyone,” he said.

“Just to get a little bit of community back.”

Barossa cellar door manager Rachael Duncan said businesses in the wine industry needed to be strong for each other during the pandemic.

“We’re doing as much as we can to generate enough sales to ensure that we can pay our basic expenses during this process,” she said.

“We’ve all got to look out for each other and, if we can, all be together as one so we can fight this off together.”

Enquire About Online Tasting

Out on the land…

By Holly | Blog | Comments Off on Out on the land… | 25 January, 2019 | 1

It’s that time of year again!  The vines are bursting at the seams, the grapes are (just) starting to change colour and all the wine folk in the Valley are thinking very hard about harvest this year.  Thanks to the cooler and wetter conditions we’ve had for the last several months it looks like we’ll be picking 2 or 3 weeks later this year so we’re anticipating the first pick of Chardonnay for our Sparkling White will take place around mid February.  That gives us a nice chance to get the winery clean and tidy for the first crush and we’ve got the team on board scrubbing and prepping like crazy.

The upside is that this cooler and longer ripening period should foresee some beautiful grapes for us to make wine with – cooler nights will help keep acid high and flavours should be wonderful.  That’s all assuming that Mother Nature continues to be so kind to us… fingers crossed!

Cheers, Alex

Next In Line

By Holly | Blog | Comments Off on Next In Line | 16 December, 2016 | 1

This is the time of year when everyone is thinking of Christmas holidays, gift giving, trips to the beach (in the southern hemisphere at least) and long lunches. For many in the wine game though it’s also one of the busiest times of year and we are more likely to be found pondering final blending options, label printing and bookings at the bottling hall! For ‘tis the season to get a whole bunch of our 2015 reds into bottle so that they can rest safely over the summer ready for next winter’s release (or later) and free up both barrels and tanks for next year’s harvest which is drawing upon us at great speed.

What’s particularly gratifying is that the 2015s are showing to be a set of truly exciting wines, showing great class, elegance and ageability. The fruit profile is bright and fresh with lovely plump darks fruits and a lovely backbone of fine tannins and acidity. These are wines that will age beautifully and show great balance.

Anyway, the wines are all in tank ready to go and bottling starts on Monday so I’d best have one last taste to make sure I’m happy with them…!

Cheers, Alex

The 2015 reds are coming!

By Asim | Blog | Comments Off on The 2015 reds are coming! | 22 November, 2016 | 4

One of the most enjoyable times in the winemaking process is the final blending.  We’re right in the middle of that time now with all the 2015 Shiraz being removed from barrel and blended to their final destination wines over the next few weeks.
 
The reason this process is so enjoyable?  Well, many may think it’s down to the frequent tasting of individual barrels, up to 70 a day!  Certainly that’s good fun and a great opportunity to recap on the tastings throughout the year to see how the oak is finally marrying with the fruit on numerous parcels.  But the real joy of the process is the magic of blending.  Tinkering about with different combinations of barrels then 2% of this parcel or 1% of that parcel I’m always amazed by the surprising positive and negative effects that come about.  I may have a couple of parcels that I love and think they would look great together – sometimes it works beautifully as planned but sometimes it just falls flat.  Equally, a quick blend that may be a bit of a ‘hit and hope’ turns out to absolutely sing and suddenly everything’s easy!
 
I guess this is where the science of winemaking gives way to the craft.  It’s not maths at this stage, 2+2 could equal 3 or it could equal 7, it’s a slow and deliberate process of trials (and errors!) with the hope of a beautiful end result.
 
Cheers, Alex

Show Success

By Asim | Blog | Comments Off on Show Success | 9 November, 2016 | 4

We’ve had some good success with our wines at various shows over the years and it’s always nice to receive accolades.  With some wines though it’s particularly rewarding.  One example is our 2013 Limited Release Lynedoch which has recently won the Top 100/Blue Gold award at the Sydney International Wine Competition.

The reason I’m so pleased about this is twofold; firstly, this competition is judged with food, so the judges taste all the wines entered and the top 20% are taken to the next stage where they are judged alongside food.  This is a big logistical job but what a great idea to ascertain the quality of a wine in its appropriate setting!  The second reason this award is so pleasing is that it shows the rewards of patience!  As our top Bordeaux blend (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot) this wine is a pretty serious one and needs time in bottle to develop and show its true potential, it’s just starting to hit it’s straps now and we’re pleased to see that development being recognised.

Sydney

By Asim | Blog | Comments Off on Sydney | 2 November, 2016 | 5

I spent 10 years living in Sydney and it’s always nice to go back for a visit to such a beautiful and vibrant city.  I was there recently for a sales trip to meet with our distributors and some independent bottle shops and on-premise customers.  I have to say the trip was a huge success, we had some great feedback on the wines and managed to make some nice sales but equally important for me was the chance to meet some incredible people – all wine nuts, passionate about the products they sell.  These guys know what they like, they know what their customers will like and they’re not afraid to let suppliers like us know about it!  That sort of honesty, intelligence and passion is always a good thing in this game!  Luckily, they all liked Hemera Estate!

So for those of you in Sydney or anywhere in this great land, please support your local independent bottle shop, chances are they’ll get to know your tastes and be a source of great new discoveries over time.  Don’t be afraid to ask them to stock Hemera Estate if they don’t already do so either – they need customer feedback and they enjoy new discoveries too!

Cheers, Alex

New White Wine

By Asim | Blog | Comments Off on New White Wine | 10 October, 2016 | 2

The Barossa Valley is known as red wine country and for good reason and
we’re rightly proud of the pleasure our reds give to people everywhere.  But
we are also proud of the white wines that we produce.  Look back in the
history books just a generation or so and you will see that the Barossa was
all about white wines, making top class Rieslings, Semillons and
Chardonnays.  We still do all that but we’re now seeing some new varieties
in the mix with exotic names like Vermentino, Fiano, Rousanne and Marsanne
coming to the fore.

We planted Marsanne on our vineyard in 2013 and harvested our first crop
from it this year.  We were super excited and the young vines did a grand
job producing a small but powerfully aromatic and complex crop of grapes.
We decided to put it through our little basket press in order to extract
only the cleanest, softest free run juice.  This juice was then fermented in
3 barrels of seasoned French oak and 1 new French barrel.  This gave a
lovely, fresh and vibrant wine which was then lees stirred for 6 months to
give some flesh and body to the palate.  We bottled the resulting wine last
month and are loving the results.  As the warm weather finally looks like it
will chase away the rain I’m certainly looking forward to a chilled glass or
two of 2016 Basket Press Marsanne to end the day(s)!

Cheers, Alex

Wine Show Week!

By Asim | Blog | Comments Off on Wine Show Week! | 16 September, 2016 | 2

The Barossa Wine Show is on this week and that makes for a fun week in the Barossa for all the wine geeks.  It also makes for a very busy week if you’re part of the organising committee!  The judging started on Monday with the judges tasting over 700 different wines across three different panels.  It’s a big logistical task to get all the wines ready, poured and cleaned up for each tasting panel and thanks to a small army of volunteers this goes off without a hitch (aside from a few broken glasses!).  Thursday night is the big Presentation Dinner when we all get to dress up and see who won the major trophies whilst sampling the gold and trophy winning wines – usually a pretty good night!

I’m off to get suited and booted, I look forward to raising a glass of the winning Grenache tonight on this International Grenache Day!

Cheers, Alex

Spring is here?

By Asim | Blog | Comments Off on Spring is here? | 22 August, 2016 | 2

Wow, we’ve had some beautiful weather this week, sunny blue skies with warm temperatures in the early 20s, perfect springtime weather.  People around the Valley have been getting excited about warmer times, barbies etc and all has been good.  Today, however, more rain and a bitterly cold southerly have somewhat dampened everyone’s enthusiasm, not quite spring yet!  The vines of course were not so easily fooled.  They are still happily lying in dormancy, waiting for our average temperatures to rise for a sustained period when they will respond by bursting the buds all along the cordons and pushing new life into the warm air.  The sap is already rising a little so it shouldn’t be too long now but we aren’t in a rush, a later budburst means later harvest and, all things being normal (a phrase which is almost meaningless in the world of farming!), grapes that ripen fully and slowly in cooler autumn temperatures.

 

We shall see!

 

Cheers, Alex

It’s Winter, So Let’s Tawny

By Asim | Blog | Comments Off on It’s Winter, So Let’s Tawny | 16 August, 2016 | 1
It’s still raining and it’s still cold, wonderful news for the vineyard – which is super happy and healthy right now – but not such wonderful news for us people.  The cellar is cold and draughty and the boys out pruning are cold and wet.  Our Tasting Room is beautiful and warm with a lovely open fire but we can’t stay in there all day!  The solution?  Blend some Tawny fortified to replace our ever popular, and rapidly dwindling, supplies.  This means individually tasting our separate lots of fortified tawny in barrel to assess the qualities of each, some younger, some older.  On the bench we look at different blends to try and showcase that lovely rancio aged character whilst bringing a little bit of freshness with younger wine.  It takes a while, mostly because it’s so warming and delicious that why would you rush it?  Once the blend is done we top up the remaining barrels a little bit and then leave for another couple of years to continue their journey.
Maybe I’ll just try that blend again to check I’m really happy with it…. 😉
Cheers, Alex
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CONTACT

1516 Barossa Valley Way, Lyndoch SA 5351
(08) 8524 4033
cellar@hemeraestate.com.au



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Under the Liquor Control Reform Act 1998, it is an offence to supply alcohol to a person under the age of 18 years. We require proof of age for all wine orders being delivered and served.
Wine can only be delivered to the adult purchaser being 18+ and in accordance with the instructions of the purchaser. Producers Licence #57602625
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