The mornings on our farm cum vineyard are just splendid. The sky is high and blue, the air fresh and crisp, in short it’s just gorgeous. We are having a great time out here in Glenburn, and do not miss the big city in Thailand which is our home these days. Breakfast can be simple and sweet or hearty-savoury.
The local paper and a cup of tea
“Horse over egg”, a creation by my daughter Lucy
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Posted by themanfrommoselriver
Greetings from Two Hills Vineyard in Glenburn, Victoria, Australia. Today, the year 2010 is coming to an end. As usual it was another busy year, a year which made us mothball our small family vineyard and wait for better times of the Australian wine industry. We are not giving up at this point in time.
Blogging has been fun and a great learning experience. Although my day job does not leave me much time for my food and wine passion, I was able to turn our a few pieces.
To all my friends, readers and followers: thank you very much for supporting me and my blog by your visits, comments and suggestions during the last year.
You folks keep me going; now that I will be entering the fifth year of “my life as a food and wine blogger”.
I wish you and your beloved ones all the best for the festive season at the turn to the new year. May you enjoy life, health and togetherness and, of course, a glass of wine here and there.
I have another poem by Jelalludin Rumi for you.
This We Have Now
This we have now
is not imagination.
This is not
grief or joy.
Not a judging state,
or an elation,
or sadness.
Those come
and go.
This is the presence
that doesn’t.
What else could humans want?
When grapes turn to wine,
they’re wanting this.
—————————
Happy New Year. Have a good start into 2011.
Leave a Comment » | vines, vineyard management, Vineyard profile | Tagged: Australian wine, Glenburn, Jelalludin Rumi, Rumi, Two Hills Vineyard | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
Goodness me how the time passes. The year is almost over. Before coming to Glenburn, I thought that I could find the time to post every day a picture at least. And now I have not touched my beloved blog for a couple of days.
Christmas was wonderful. We celebrated with family and friends and it went on for three days. I got a new camera for Christmas, a Nikon Coolpix, and I have been playing with it. The photos below come from this new toy.
Our two dams are full after all this rain
The sky is blue with beautiful clouds
And in the evening the clouds turn red
And the night sky is just fantastic
Needless to say, we drink a lot of Two Hills Merlot these days. The days are warm and the nights are cool. The air is crisp and clean. It is very quiet here, especially in the night. This is paradise, heaven on a stick so to say. More soon.
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Posted by themanfrommoselriver
The mothballed Sauvignon Blanc block
Today, my brother in law, Michael, send me some photos from our vineyard. The above one depicts our 2 1/2 acres of Sauvignon Blanc which have been mothballed for the coming season. It look a bit wild. I will slash the grass in a few weeks.
Michael also met a snake in the grass. Is it a black or a tiger snake? Anyway, they are all poisenous.
Thanks Michael for the great photos.
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Posted by themanfrommoselriver
I am afraid some of you might not like this post and the pictures which I present today. But meat comes from animals and they have to die so that we can enjoy the meals we make from it. Wild pigs are a real pest in Germany theses days, and very difficult to hunt and kill. My friend Heinz shot the little boar in Schoden, Saar.
My mother prepared a wonderful Sunday lunch with the best parts of the meat. We enjoyed it together with a bottle of our Merlot (2004 Two Hills Merlot), and I tell you that was just heaven on a stick, as we say in Australia.
Wild piglet hide
The carcass
…from a different side.
The butchered boar meat
…and in the pan
…and finally on the plate
How tender is this?
My favorite Australian Merlot
Leave a Comment » | food, food and wine, vineyards, wine, wine regions | Tagged: Australian wine, Glenburn, Saar, Schoden, Two Hills Merlot, Two Hills Vineyard, Victoria, wild pig | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
This is how a song line from South Africa goes. Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo made it famous in my circles. Now the drought in Victoria seems to have come to an end (after 13 years or so). It rains and rains in northern and central Victoria.
Of cause rain brings also destruction, landslides at Mount Buller for instance, flash floods, rivers rising, people had to be evacuated, in short chaos across the state of Victoria. In some places they had 150 millimetres.
But our dams at Two Hills Vineyard are full now. That’s the good news. I have not seen our big dam as full as now. ‘Brownies landing” is floating for the first time in years.
Dam at Two Hills Vineyard
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Posted by themanfrommoselriver
Near Mt. St. Leonard, Toolangi road to Healesville
Most of the following pictures I took through the car window while driving from Glenburn to Healesville via Meyers Creek Road. Gum trees do not turn yellow in autumn as desidious trees do. But the combination in many gardens and park lands make a great composition of colours.
Gum treas near Castella
Mountain Ash trees in Toolangi
Mt. St Leonard from Healesville – peak to the left
Two Kukkaburra birds waiting for their feed at Michael’s home
I found the following short video clip on the internet. Please visit the place, it’s magic.
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Posted by themanfrommoselriver
Chicken, vegetables and cauliflower
Lunch in the vineyard is always a highlight, especially if the weather allows us to have it on the terrace outside with those spectacular valley views. Of course wine is an important ingredient in a successful lunch. We had another bottle of Rocky Passes Syrah, the 2006 vintage this time. It received 92/100 Parker Points by James Halliday.
2005 Rocky Passes Syrah
Later the same day we followed the 2006 vintage with a 2005 Syrah. I had just one bottle of the 2005 vintage left which had received a whopping 94/100 Parker Points. Vitto Oles is doing a great job on these stony slopes of Rocky Passes Estate. Good food and good wine, that’s what makes a great day. The other two ingredients are old friends and good music.
Hope you have a good Saturday yourself.
Leave a Comment » | food, Vineyard profile, wine, wineries | Tagged: Australian wine, Glenburn, James Halliday, Rocky Passes Estate, Two Hills Vineyard, Upper Goulburn Wine region, Upper Goulburn Winegrowers Association, Victoria, Vitto Oles | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
During long walks in the vineyard and around the paddocks we collected quite a few delicious mushrooms. The specimen above was particularly significant. Together with some other mushrooms it made a great pasta ai funghi porcini.
My olive grove was bady damaged during the bushfires last year. Only about 30 of my 100 olive trees escaped unharmed. Although there is lots of new growth from below, it will take years before the olive grove will take shape. However, there were still some beautiful olives to be harvested.
And of course, there were grapes, lots of them. Below a ripe Merlot bunch. It’s a pity that we could not sell all of our vintage this year. The grapes were very sweet and full of juice.
Autumn is a wonderful time in the cyle of the year. It was only the second time that we had the chance to experience it on our farm first hand. Happy days.
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Posted by themanfrommoselriver
We have hearty good food when on the farm in Glenburn. The beautiful autumn weather allowed us to sit outside and enjoy pasta dishes, meats, salads and other rural food in the mid-day sun. And we all love Italian cuisine.
Zucchini pasta
Insalata caprese
We also have wine with the food. Often we just open a bottle of Two Hills Merlot. But more often than not, we are tasting wines made by our friends in the wine industry. The cucchini pasta we had for instance with a bottle of 2009 Sauvignon Blanc from Steve Sadlier’s vineyard, Nenagh Park, in Yarra Glen.
It has no label as yet, what Australians call “clean skins”, but it’s a ripper of a wine, not in the New Zealand style but rather the one of Sancerre, France. Epicurus would give an arm and a leg to be with us, for sure.
Steve’s Sauvignon Blanc
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Posted by themanfrommoselriver
The Man from Mosel River
The Man from Mosel River 