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Tips for Planning a Successful Wine Tour
Planning any type of event can be stressful. It is said that event planners have one of the most stressful jobs, so we can imagine if you aren’t a professional and are in charge of organising your next wine tour, it can be a trying task. Relaxing with friends, tasting new wines, and enjoying the…
Read More 2018 Vintage Report
Rob Dolan Wines 2018 Vintage Crew Don’t be surprised to see big smiles on everyone’s faces throughout the Yarra Valley for the next 12 months. Growers who escaped the humid patch of weather unscathed around Christmas time have been rewarded with decent-sized crops and tremendous ripening conditions throughout February and March. Likewise, winemakers have good…
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The 2018 Pick and Stomp
10am, the day begun how most days should, with coffee and mimosas. After a debrief from Rob our newly recruited winemakers headed down into the winery for a tour and explanation of how things run at Rob Dolan Wines. Being a contract wine making facility there are lots of things happening and so…
Read MoreWhen I Grow Up I Want To Be A Wine Dog Too
Well, next week I turn 5 months old, which doesn’t sound like a lot but in dog years that’s like 3.5 years old. I’ve been hanging out at work with my new mum for a little while now and I’ve got to say my time at the winery has had its ups and downs. For…
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Food/Wine Matches Please
At Rob Dolan Wines, whenever there’s a need for wine and food matches to be attached to tasting notes, the job seems to come straight to me. An email entitled “Food/Wine matches please”. I’m not sure why this is! Perhaps it is the life-sized poster of Jamie Oliver I have at home. Or maybe it…
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Environmentally Friendly Rob
When I started working for Rob a million years ago he was always conscious of the environment and the effects that wineries have. So much so that he even let me do all of my environmental assignments at work while studying Environmental Science. All the days I spent pouring over electricity bills and stomping through…
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Christmas Party Conversations
“No one reads blogs anyway, right?” replied a friend at a recent Christmas party when I confided in him that I had no ideas to fill my page. That may be the case, but here we are… “Why don’t you write about why red wine gives me headaches and white wine doesn’t?”, suggested another…
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My Napa Vintage Experience
Napa Valley is home to some big names in the wine industry, and it’s big business, producing high quality wine and a lot of it. When driving into the Napa Valley you are greeted with vineyards as far as the eye can see. The smaller towns such as St Helena and Calistoga area picturesque and…
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“It’s Hands On, It’s Intimate and It’s Old School”
It’s Tuesday afternoon. I have arrived in Oregon to a heavy and persistent haze and a familiar smell in the air. The area just outside Portland has been experiencing severe bush fires for the past two weeks. There are concerns about smoke taint in the vintage to come. The harvest has crept up fast on…
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The Reunion – 31 Years Later!
Vintage is the key period in a Winemaker’s year when many long term relationships and friendships are born and on rare occasions left in tatters. In the harvest period there are long hours with people and logistics pressures. Shift work with days often 12-16 hours long and double shifts – when grapes are ripe they…
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