THE challenges of growing top quality grapes to produce award-winning wines are part and parcel of life on the land for local vignerons Geoff and Barbara Brown, of Ascella Estate Wine.
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And, this season has been particularly challenging for the Browns with a torrid hailstorm hitting the Milbrodale district vineyard on December 5.
Their reds were more damaged than their whites when the hailstorm, with hail as big as tennis balls, struck the district five kilometres from Bulga.
But, it isn’t all bad news because the storm hit before the grapes contained juice, meaning they won’t rot and cause disease problems and, according to Mr Brown, having less grapes on the vines means the surviving grapes are higher quality.
“It was very disappointing to see the damage,” he said.
“It was the first hailstorm in the vineyard, since we bought it seven years ago but at least the timing of the storm means the remaining grapes won’t be affected by rot.
“And if nothing nasty happens before harvest the quality of the surviving grapes should be very high.
“The 2014 vintage was exceptional for us and we are looking forward to a similar vintage this year.”
Ascella Estate is the Hunter Valley’s largest organic vineyard with
32 hectares under vines and one of the country’s largest family-run organic vineyards.
The Browns, both highly-skilled professionals, enjoy the extra work involved in running an award-winning organic vineyard, though they are happy to admit it was not the sort of retirement project most people would want to undertake.
“It’s probably more work than we first realised,” Mrs Brown said.
“But being committed to the organic food movement for many many years it was the logical way to manage the estate.”
One of their recent innovation is the use of recycled concrete for their wine labels – they look good and are fully waterproof.
