The short read:
Firstly, love to all, hope you’re keeping safe and healthy.
For the time being I’ll be delivering to Melbourne and surrounds weekly, with my wine, MGC Gin, and Chum Creek Coffee. I bought a van last year (admittedly the motivation was for coast trips with a mattress, eski, and surfboard; simpler times…). It’ll now be put to good use. Order here
Interstate friends, please don’t order coffee or gin from me, I’ll just have to refund you. Please order direct from the producer.
DISCOUNT CODE IS 'C20' (20% off any orders of a dozen or more).
The longer read…
I’m taking this seriously… (I really am… I’ll be wearing gloves and doing all of the right things while delivering. Maybe not those gloves. Will drop the kids size lifejacket too. And the welding mask)
I’ll add a few facts about where small wine businesses are at the moment. Hopefully it doesn't come across as a sob story… I’ve never felt more grateful to be born into this affluent country, with great family and friends, fresh food, clean(ish) air, and a relatively good public health system. We’re in a better position than most to come out of this with the important things intact.
Wine business is a bit of a train wreck at the moment, as it will be for anyone in hospitality. To very roughly quote an industry guru, we are all in hospitality. Our production is agriculture and food, but our business is hospitality. In my case 90% of sales have been to restaurants.
Restaurants are, quite rightly, prioritising staff entitlements over supplier invoices, so wine producers won’t be paid for summer sales for a while, if ever in many cases. Hospitality is a tough business at the best of times, I don’t know how the good ones do it (by good ones I mean those who pay their staff correctly :| ). Here’s hoping there’s a time when they can get back on their feet. Casual hospitality staff will be hit hardest of course, also hoping the support mechanisms for them are generous, efficient and effective.
That’s the bad news… here’s the good: wine producers are lucky, wine is not perishable, and people are still enjoying a wine. We just have to get it to you. Hence the van will be busy, I hope.
The other good news is that 2020 fruit is incredible in the Yarra Valley. We were very lucky to escape any impact of fire, and good sites have coped with the cool wet weather really well. Harvest dates are back to where they were 20 years ago: about a month behind last year. There is incredible acidity, ripe flavours, moderate alcohols, and deep vibrant colour in the reds. The vines don’t give two shits about our stupid virus…
A few words about the new produce in the shop
Chum Creek 443 Blend is consumed in heroic quantities at the winery. Greg Liney changed careers from viticulture to coffee some years back, he’s highly skilled at both.
MGC gin is always around at home, Andrew crafts very fine gin, and makes wine at his family vineyard Gembrook Hill, and Wanderer wines, all produced 10 mins from my winery.
They are great local producers, and lovely people. When this is over please continue to support them. It’s a pleasure to be able to deliver their produce with mine. It’s great that small producers can support each other, work together, even on a small scale like this. Thanks guys.