Rosnay Organic

Flickerfest 2012 ends at Rosnay on 24 March!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:37:00 +0000

Mark the date: Saturday 24 March is Flickerfest 2012 at Rosnay!

Its time to wrap your JAWS around some great bite sized chunks of cinema and a glass of great organic wine at FLICKERFEST 2012! Kicking off tonight at Bondi Beach, Sydney, it goes for 10 days then takes off on the annual national tour, culminating with the final screening under the stars at Rosnay! By the way, we have some spare tickets for both Sydney and the tour, so if you want to go as a Rosnay guest, call us!
This is the third year that Flickerfest's has screened at the Rosnay vineyard, projected onto the Pics in the Sticks outsdoor screen on the lawns in front of the Rosnay cellar door. Check out the tour trailer!

2012 Flickerfest prestented by ING DIRECT - Tour Trailer from Flickerfest on Vimeo.

If you havent done a tour of Rosnay before, why not drop in early for a FREE afternoon farm tour with the growers? See what all the fuss is about with organic farming, why its better for the environment and your health, before enjoying a glass of Rosnay wine at sunset. Here is the program:

4.30-6.30pm Farm Tour
6.30-8.00pm Dinner and drinks
8.00-9.00pm Films - First Set
9.00-9.30pm Coffee and Cake
9.30-10.30pm Films - Second Set

Dinner will be provided Andrew Wooldridge featuring Rosnay lamb curry. RSVP for Dinner is Tuesday 20 March, to give Wooly time to prepare.
RSVP: Please use the booking form below.
Cost: $20 Films only, and $35 for films and Wooly's organic lamb curry. Children are half price but note that the films are rated MA15+. Of course you can BYO picnic, but not alcohol please, as Rosnay Cellar Door is licenced.
What to bring: Rug, cushions and/or chair to sit on the lawn. Warm clothes in case its chilly. Designated driver if drinking. If not having the dinner, bring a picnic basket.
WET WEATHER: We all know about wet weather. Well this year's contingency location is the beautiful Billimari Hall, just 4km from Rosnay, towards Cowra. If there is a change of venue we will give you a call so please make sure you use the booking form.
LOCAL TICKET OUTLET: Tickets can now be purchased from the Cowra Visitors Centre

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Woolstock 2012 is on 10 March 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 06:31:00 +0000

Download the OFFICIAL INVITE!!

To all our friends who always seem to find out too late about the biggest underground music event in the West, the date has finally been set. Wooly, who as the festival founder has no qualms in naming it after himself, has set the date for Woolstock 2012 to be Saturday 10th of March.

So, make a note in your cultural diary and start collecting your musical instruments, lyrics, poems, tents, musical pots and pans, and anything else you might need for a weekend of camping and jamming.

The venue was up in the air for a while, but nows its landed back on Rivers Road Organic Farms, right next to Margie and Wooly's house again.

If you want to perform with a time slot (as opposed to jamming with the rest of us later in the night), you should contact Wooly on margwool@bigpond.com

In conclusion, I am posting one interesting photo from last year. Wooly was unable to be there in body, but he was there in spirit, in the form of a "Wooly Scarecrow". This year we hope to have him in the flesh playing his classic rockabilly guitar.

Birds of Rosnay

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:16:00 +0000

Bird photos taken in and around Rosnay by French bird watchers Jacky and Miyuki Galloy, December 2011-January 2012.

Organic Cocktail Madness

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:11:00 +0000

Our mate Jaxon Valentine from the Organic Cocktail Company has been impressing us for years with his craft, and this is an unabashed copy and paste from his great website, http://organiccocktail.com

Organic Bella Bellini

90ml Rosnay Organic Sparkling Chardonnay

15ml OCC organic white peach liqueur

30ml organic apricot puree

15ml organic lemon juice

Garnish - fresh raspberries

Blue Cue Cobber

15ml Square One Organic Cucumber Vodka

90ml Rosnay sparkling chardonnay

15ml Pheonix organic pear juice

15ml organic lemon juice

6-8 bluberries

6-8 cucumber slices

Lemon twists

Garnish: Cucumber Spear/bluberries

Of course, we recommend Jaxon for corporate training and team building, organic liqueur tastings and bar consultancy. Thanks Jaxon!

Have you got the Gold Book?

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 01:15:00 +0000

Of course, we love this book. Not only because it includes Rosnay and a lot of our favourite wines, but because Rob Geddes has a true interest in the small producers in the far flung regions that the majority of wine writers seldom visit. Master of Wine, Rob has been out here as a guest of the Cowra Region Vineyard Association, as has Max Allen. I recommend this as a very handy Australian wine reference - you can get it in the hard copy or as an "epublication", from www.thegoldbook.com.au. Next year is the 30th anniversary edition of this truly collectable series that is going as strong as ever under Rob Geddes - well done Rob!

Out of interest, this is what Rob wrote about the Rosnay Triple Blend...

ROSNAY TRIPLE BLEND ★★★★
Cabernet, shiraz and merlot here have tart tangy fruit with a slight drying finish and although these wines have no cranberries in them, they offer the positive flavour and texture effects of drinking the juice with distinctive medium-weight tannins, high-ish acidity, bright fruit and classic astringent finish. Very consistent style.
2004 88 points, drink until 2014
2005 86 points, drink until 2014
2006 87 points, drink until 2016
2008 88 points, drink until 2018

Our new Sydney sales guys are tops

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:47:00 +0000

Craig Smalley, Oli Statham and Gary Crawford

Oli and Sam got to meet Craig Smalley and Gary Crawford from Australian Independent Wine Wholesalers at the Mind Body Spirit Festival, and its with great pleasure that we now introduce them to the Sydney wine trade as our new reps. Both come from the mainstream wine game with many years or trade service experience and we look forward to working with them. Craig (tel 0457 009 191) looks after north of the harbour, and Gary (tel 0418 870 550) looks after the south side. Oli is pursuing a diverse musical and environmental career but still helps out with Rosnay tastings and promotions.

Click on our Distributors page to see the full list of reps!

Thankyou Costa!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:39:00 +0000

A huge thankyou goes out to Costa for giving so much time to come out to Canowindra last weekend. Here are a few pics!

Launching the Canowindra Community Garden...

Inspiring at the Union Bank...

Inspecting the Rosnay olives...

What more could you ask for from a mortal man?

Have a Love Feast with us at Agape Restaurant!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 03:59:00 +0000

Agape is greek for Unconditional Love, so we thought we'd have to celebrate the festive season with a Love Feast at Sydney's finest organic restaurant, Agape, in Botany.

Our dear friend Deb King has lined the Feast up for 8pm on Friday 16th of December 2011...

It will be a set menu (slightly different to past 2 evenings for those who have been before) and cost $63 per head including service, NOT including drinks. A selection of Rosnay wines will be available at the bar and Sam Statham will be there to talk a bit about them and organic farming generally.

In case you dont know Agape, its the venture of acclaimed chef Simon Lawson, and his sisters and mother. The whole family are not only huge advocates of quality, reasonably priced organic food, but also generous supporters of the organic movement and those less fortunate than us in Africa through the Agape Community.

Check it out and join us on the 16th!! Being a famous restaurant and all we will need to book in early. Email or call Sam on 1300 767629 to book.

Canowindra Community Garden - Looking Nice and Curvy

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 04:23:00 +0000

Lets not stop with a curvy main street. The brand new Canowindra Community Garden, to be launched by no less than Costa himself next week, is looking awesome following the working bee, or better, "bendy backyard blitz", of last weekend. Looking forward to Julia's blog post on this soon, but for now, here's just a piccie I took from the shady "contemplation corner", with the lovely Simone Statham and young Floyd in the sling! In brief, we put in a curvy fence (or better, "wavelike", made from old Rosnay vineyard posts), marked out a curvy path (designed by Chris and incorporating the Fibonacci spiral), dug out the "husband killer" oleander shrubs, rotary hoed in the couch grass with compost from Canowindra Produce (vegetarian compost from straw but it smelt like poo!), put on dolomite and lime courtesy of Wooly and Margie, installed Owen and Mark's awesome steel archway gate, thanked the "Big Fella" for the free BBQ lunches that appeared in the shade of the church, washed it down with lashings of Hamilton's Bluff Sangiovese sangria, watered the compost, sprayed biodynamic 500, hung out with the kids, talked to passing wide-eyed locals, mulched with lucerne hay from Mark Ward (and others), and viola! Ready for Costa to do his magic next Thursday!
A big thanks of course to the Canowindra Uniting Church for letting it all happen in their yard, and of course, Chris for coordinating it.

A Ripper Spring of gardening, food and wine is coming up!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 23:43:00 +0000

Its shaping up to be a busy spring... Here are a few upcoming events with Rosnay involved...

Saturday 22 October, at Canowindra, join us for the Canowindra@Home NIGHT MARKET. This event has been running for a few years now and its an excellent night out. Local producers cook up their produce in small $5 plates so you can put a great dinner together with your favourite local food and wine. Canowindra@Home is a vibrant group of producers and foodies who you can read all about on their great new website, http://canowindraathome.org.au

Thursday 27 October join us and COSTA for the official opening of the CANOWINDRA COMMUNITY GARDEN! The countdown is on before Costa, from Costa's Garden Odyssey, arrives to cut the ribbon and run workshops with the local shool kids as part of a huge launch day. The CCG Working Group aims to have enough materials and manpower on the opening day so that community participants can put down the foundations of the garden, including raised garden beds, compost heaps, worm farms, and the first of what is hoped to be many vegetable plots. CCG spokesperson Chris Cuddy says that the whole community is invited to participate in the garden in whatever way they can. “We know there are people in our community with a wealth of knowledge and experience in growing productive gardens, and there are many more who want to learn” said Chris. “We are hoping that the gardens will provide a meeting point for members of the community, whether they be gardeners, students, cooks, or people simply wanting to be actively involved within the community” he said. Approval has been given to use the grounds of the Uniting Church, on the corner of Blatchford and Short Streets, which is central and accessible for most members of the community. A working bee will be held this weekend of 15-16 October to establish a boundary fence and basic infrastructure of the garden. The group is grateful for any donations of gardening materials or tools.
Info: Chris Cuddy on 0427 077 798.

Friday 28 October, in Orange, we have organised COSTA'S URBAN GARDEN WORKSHOP with Union Bank Wine Bar. Featuring Costa the Garden Guru as seen on SBS, who has been out to Rosnay and will be fired up following the community garden launch in Canowindra. Bring along your questions and talk to Costa in person, and check out the new sustainable and organic Union Bank kitchen garden, featuring the latest vertical garden systems. Books and the latest gardening tools will also be on display as you enjoy a free taste of Rosnay Organic Wines. This event is FREE! TIME 3.30-5.30pm BOOKINGS: Not required - just come along!

Saturday 29 October, join us for the annual ORGANIC+SUSTAINABLE FOOD AND WINE DINNER as part of Orange Wine Week. Hosted by Rosnay Organic and Jarrett Wines, this event matches the best organic wine from the neighbouring regions of Orange and Cowra with delicious local and/or organic food from the Union Bank kitchen. Learn about the true regional flavours with wine that has been grown without any nitrate fertiliser or pseticides - and have a great night out with us! Tickets are selling fast so be sure to book early.
Time: 6PM
Cost: $95 pp
Info: http://www.unionbank.com.au/news.php
Bookings essential: functions@unionbank.com.au or 1300 721 731

Rosnay comes to Sydney again for the MIND BODY SPIRIT FESTIVAL in Darling Harbour, on 3-6 November. Join Sam and Oli for a taste of the latest Rosnay wines, including the newly released "2011 Blanc". This year's MBS looks as unique, vibrant and interesting as ever. We have a bunch of free tickets so it needn't cost you a cent to get in - just call contact us through the website to let us know you are coming, and we'll have the ticket ready.
Cost: $18 adults $15 concessions, kids are FREE
Info: 03 9276 5501 or visit http://www.mbsfestival.com.au/sydney-details.htm

Florence's delicious organic chicken stuffing with olive paste

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:12:00 +0000

By Florence Statham

Ingredients:

100g breadcrumbs
2 cloves
1 lemon juice and rind
1 egg lightly beaten
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
2 tablespoons olive paste
1 bunch fresh parsely
Black pepper
Salt not needed

Mix all in a bowl with hands, make a ball and stuff into chicken before roasting normally. We put some Rosnay olive oil and black pepper on top of the chicken before roasting in a tray. Once the chook is cooked slowly pour most of the fat off the pan juices and add some water and a pinch of flour and warm the pan on a flame to make the gravy. Strain the gravy into a jug.

I normally cook the vegetables seperately on another tray.

Winter 2011 Seasonal Notes

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 11:23:00 +0000

The Good Oil
Our last season report was after vintage, looking back on one hell of a difficult summer season. Now, looking back, we can only say, thank god for Canowindra's heavenly mild winters. Since the end of the grape harvest, its just been beautiful here. The olive harvest was the main remaining task, beginnning with the olive oil varieties. Like many growers this year, we had a big crop of water-laden fruit. More tonnes on the truck, but less oil coming back form the press. The unfiltered oil has slightly more acid in it than last year (0.3% FFA) but the flavour is deliciously mild, fruity and with a nice little pungent zing at the end. It has a lovely green colour and a nice cloudy hue of goodness that many of our customers ask for.

We have been bottling the oil for the last few weeks, having a few issues with new bottles and closures, now sorted. We have been labelling this week with our beautiful new labels featuring the Gold "O". If you are an oil lover, why not order a four litre tin or a 6-pack of bottles for friends?

The kalamata harvest normally takes place a lot earlier than it did this year, in early July. This was mainly due to the late and wet season, and the heavy rain in spring leading to some over-cropping in the kalamatas. This means the fruit was smaller and greener than we like at the normal June harvest date, so we just had to sit and wait. By July, the majority of the fruit was ripe, and we picked a big crop but with a lot of over-ripe fruit, extra rich in flavour, which will be made into olive paste. This is in contrast with last year when the very dry summer ended with heavy rain that caused swelling of the fruit, then shrinking again during another dry spell. Oh, the joys of olive growing - always so much to learn, and so much depending on luck as well! Due to this years late harvest, we dont expect to bottle much before Christmas, which probably means we will run out for a month or two. We have already run out of 2 litre jars.

Sky Symphonies
Its early September, and it raining... If only you could bottle the sound and smell of rain falling on dry ground. The flashes of lightning illuminating the darkness and the rolling thunder behind the driving rain. The mini blackouts adding to the excitement of water giving life on the land, where drought and blackouts actually have a lot in common - reminding us of the fragility of modern life without either water or power. We are hoping to reduce our dependence on both, as we are living in times of climate (and other) change. Despite the deluge of 2010-2011 summer, we seem to be back in the "just enough" rainfall pattern that was typical of the early drought years here in the late '90's. Yes, there was enough rain to grow a crop of wheat, but only enough to keep the surface foot or so wet and keep the crop going. This winter we have really only had one big rainfall event of 35mm, about 2 weeks ago. The subsoil is dry, and the sound of rain on the tin roof is far better than any music in our house. Lets hope we get a good inch of rain tonight!

Next week's forecast is more frosty weather, and whilst the vines are still mainly dormant (only the Chardonnay stirring in the bud), I say "bring on the cold weather", to delay the budburst and reduce the risk of frost damage later, to prolong the wet early spring weather, and hopefully stave off the spring heatwaves that can fry up so much of this lovely rain and burn the olive flowers. Whether or not we end up with another wet spring, we should find out very soon.

Overall, the winter has been good to us. Apart from having some time off to renovate houses or do some well overdue travel (Florence and Richard visiting relatives in France), we have been pruning, mainly, and slowly getting the vines up to a higher cordon (130-140cm above ground level). The Chardonnay and Shiraz are all done, now just the Semillon, Merlot and Cabernet are still being extended upwards in the aim, long term, of running sheep under the vines during the growing season, as well as the winter. Running sheep in summer would mean keeping the summer weeds down, but also keeping the vines trimmed up to save manual trimming, and to improve air flow.

"Under Cover Crop" Trials

Direct Drilled

We have also been experimenting with cover crops. Oats and vetch, an old favourite of ours. The oats acts like a nice trellis for the vetch, a leguminous vine, to climb on and create a big biomass. Half the vineyard we sowed with cultivation, and half without. The results have been surprising. Where we cultivated, we didnt muck about. First we ripped with the Yeomans plow, getting down about 30cm and getting some nice soil fracture (ie creation of cracks beyond the actual boot of the plow, to allow more water infiltration.). We then disc plowed twice, scarified twice and sowed with a disc seeder. A lot of passes, too many for our liking. However, it did feel good to "turn the sod", burying a lot of old surface debis in the deeper layers, and especially to expose the roots of the perennial khaki weed (bindi-i) to the frost. Bindi has been a real challenge here, as its all along the valley. We were hoping that by not cultivating, other plants would grow and out compete it, but alas, a decade later, the truth was the clearly opposite - in some areas the bindi-i took over completely. Hence the desperate act of cultivation.

Cultivated

The other half of the vineyard we sowed without cultivation - also known as "direct drilling". This is a really nice concept, and it has worked for us in the past when done nice and early, like in February. This is not easy when you still might not have harvested the grapes in April. Anyway, it was May by the time we sowed, so later than ideal. The machine was built by a couple of other organic vignerons in the region, and we gave it a go. The idea with direct drilling is that by avoiding cultivation you dont destroy the soil structure - the little balls glued together with humus and microbes, which are destroyed and oxidised by light when plowed.

Oats and vetch

Now, four months later, the results of this trial are interesting. Where we cultivated, we expected the soil to have less life in it, and to be harder under the shovel by now. We found the opposite last week when, digging up a healthy oat plant with bio-agronomist Anthony Foo, we found much more active root activity and mycorrhizae in the cultivated plot. We also found the soil to be much better structured, deeper and softer, and the oats and vetch much bigger and healther. Wanting to know more, Anthony is organising concurrent soil and tissue analysis on both blocks to see better what is going on, but initial observation says that cultivation, occasionally (every few years) could be beneficial.

The Progress of Life

Our little organic community, Rivers Road Organic Farms, is maturing into a peaceful island of life and friendship. We have partners coming and going, but always the nicest people. We have more and more wallabies (eating our cover crops!) and birds. The native tree strips are getting seriously thick trunks and good height now. Herb and Jenny have planted lots more this winter, too. We are improving our irrigation control system using wireless technology. Greg has planted a heap of yummy garlic in the veggie paddock (Block 11). We have renovated the old cottage and are getting more and more guests onto the farm as well as some great WWOOFers. We have a new tractor (a blue one!). We have three kids under five and they have a great grandmother still living on the farm. And as of two days ago, a new puppy.

We have a lot to be thankful for, and are ready to hit the 2011 summer running.

Have you had the "Blanc"?

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 11:13:00 +0000

When trying to think of a new, cooler name for our classic white wine blend, the Chardonnay-Semillon, we had a mental "blanc".

Yes, its French for "white".

This post is to announce the release of the new, bold, 2011 Blanc. Still only 2 weeks under the lid, this wine is already available in a few quick off the mark outlets (1870 Restaurant, Orange; Supa IGA Blayney; Courthouse Hotel, Mullumbimby).

Still waiting for professional tasting notes, to our own palates this wine is delicious. A return to the balanced, unwooded, body-driven styles of 2003 and 2006, this wine is great drinking. Its made from 65% Chardonnay and 35% Semillon, picked on the same day and co-fermented from receival at Windowrie Estate. The nose opens fast with abundant floral character, and the mouth attack is soft semillon acidity and full, rounded body, finishing with well ripened Chardonnay fruit. Hitting 13.5% alcohol in a year when many wines are under 12%, this wine is not hot, but well balanced and ripened, and we expect it to last as well as the 2006 (now exclusively available at Tonic Restaurant, Millthorpe, if you want to try it).

If you are a chardonnay drinker in a sauv blanc suit, give the "Blanc" a go. We are launching it with a special September-only offer, here only, of 20% off normal dozen price: $152 delivered Sydney (freight applies elsewhere).

Our friends at TheTops hook the big one

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 11:08:00 +0000

Just a quick Congrats to John and Sharini whose new venture, The Tops Organic Retreat (at Barrington Tops) has just been voted in the "Top 10 'Weekends Away' Australia 2011".

The write-up in the Herald says "Its strengths as a getaway are the quiet bushland location, tasty and healthy meals, friendly atmosphere, comfortable accommodation and, this time of year, log fires." Well done guys!

Anyway, as soon as we heard this we rang tham and said, "Can you give our friends and customers a deal?" John came back with a great offer for all of us..

"If your friends sign up to the Tops Organic Retreat newsletter (and the Rosnay as well), and introduce three friends to do the same (with their permission), they AND their introduced friends can have 25% off, and a free bottle of Rosnay wine on arrival, outside peak seasons and weekends".

Well this sounds like something worth doing. To get the deal, simply fill in this form and John will send you and your friends a confirmation email of the offer.

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

In Praise of WWOOFers

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:40:00 +0000

We love our wwoofers. WWOOFer stands for Willing Worker on Organic Farms. This worldwide movement is growing in leaps and bounds as the pre-eminent way for young people, travellers and life changers to participate and learn about organic and natural farming.


Building..

In Australia alone the growth is amazing: In 1997 there were 6424 WWOOFers and 669 Hosts and the WWOOF Book was 174 pages and was printed on conventional paper using standard ink. In 2011 there are 12,150 WWOOFers and 2287 Hosts, the WWOOF Book is now over 420 pages and is printed on recycled paper with soy based ink on presses using solar power.

Partying..

WWOOFers have been coming here for over a decade, and Sam first learnt organic and biodynamic farming by WWOOFing. They stay in our homes, and live with us in the family. We dont "cottage out" the WWOOFers, it takes out too much of the interest. WWOOFers do whatever we do - eating with us, visiting friends and family down the road, watching the footy at the pub, playing music in the shed, and of course, working!

In the Vines..

Our cousin Patrick Leclerc is one of the leading WWOOF promoters in Australia. As a consultant for Work n Holiday, Patrick finds jobs for mainly French backpackers all over Australia. Where language or skills may be a limitation, or where a person is more interested in rich experiences than money, he uses the WWOOF system to get people out into the bush.

Packing Olives..

This year, we have had some amazing WWOOFers, and we have a French WWOOFer from Patrick right now. The biggest problem is when WWOOFers leave... Its such a sad moment for the kids especially. We get attached to our new global friends.

Are you WWOOF material? We prefer WWOOF members (insurance reasons) and non-vegetarian, non-smokers. Give us a call or email - and if we cant have you straight away we have some local connections who also take WWOOFers and might have room.

Go For The O - Going Strong!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:34:00 +0000

With our new partners from Kaleidoscope Gallery in Danks St, Waterloo (Sydney's art hub), Rosnay's "Go for the O" art patronage has taken on a new life.

Samantha Mitchell-Finn and her friends and colleagues have nominated dozens of amazing artworks to be in the running for the "Go for the O" winner to be announced in December.

The nominations are posted to the Go for the O Blogsite and promoted through the Rosnay Facebook Page, and comments are welcome on all entries.

The winner will have their winning artwork laid up as a wine label and put onto ten cases of Rosnay wine, in time for Christmas! The runners up with be offered a place in a special "collector's dozen" to be bottled in 2012, with a different artwork on each bottle in the dozen, and offered exclusively to the participating artists and their friends.

www.kaleidoscope-gallery.com

When times are tough, go out with The Dining Table

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 00:37:00 +0000

Our newest supporters are the team from 'The Dining Table'. They have fantastic dining discounts at restaurants right across the Sydney area. Yesterday we met the founder of The Dining Table, John Glynn, and are now inspired to help promote what could be a great way to refresh the restaurant trade in tough times... DINING DISCOUNTS!

John's vision is simple: “The Dining Table guarantee is to provide members with great dining at the very best value.”

Buy a card and use it as many times as you like for 12 months. Even if you only dine out once a month you’ll still save hundreds of $$$.

The best bit is that the card only costs $49 (SAVE $40), which means that you only have to dine out once or twice and it has already paid for itself.

The Dining Table Card also makes the perfect gift; it's the gift that keeps on giving - for 12 months!!

The Restaurant Gallery is updated every month with fantastic value offers, keeping it fresh exciting all year round. We love the fact that its not jammed full of fast food and other advertising.

Go to www.thediningtable.com.au to find out more about The Dining Table, or buy the card from Rosnay for $49.

Northern NSW Trade Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 14:01:00 +0000

By Sam Statham
I have just had a wonderful three day tour meeting dozens of wonderful small businesses in northern NSW with our vibrant sales representative Lorraine Thomas. Our "Rosnay Organic Wine Trade Tour" took us through the many small hamlets, villages and regional centres of a most beautiful part of Australia, inhabited by some of the most environmentally aware, colourful, and hard working communities. What began as a simple trade tour became both insightful and inspirational, as each of the owners and managers of the small retailers we met formed such an integral part of their communities. Here are a few photos to give you an idea.

However beautiful, as we wind through the rolling green farmland of daires, macadamias, tea, coffee, and weave up the misty rainforested hills and along the stunning coastlines between shops, its hard to miss the bold rise of the supermarkets, with the new Woolies now open in Mullumbimby, the self service Woolies in Byron Bay, with their associated Dan Murphies store newly opened in Ballina. We drove past a few of them, huge warehouse cathedrals to discounted alcohol, where you check out with trolleys, and save save save.

But it was interesting to find that, despite the increasing odds stacked up against them, there is still optimism in the independent retail trade. Dave from the Lennox Point Hotel pointed out that there was a full page ad in the Herald last weekend offering Moet for $20 a bottle less than he pays for it from Campbells wholesalers, and that if he needs some, thats where he'll get it and be glad for the cheaper price. Maybe thats a good thing, if he saves that in difficult times.

Glen from Sunrise Cellars in Byron Bay points out that the chain stores offer unbeatable "loss leaders" at the ends of the aisles, but in the aisles the prices are not that much less than in his own store. As a former manager of one of the chain liquor stores, Glen also reckons the centralised supermarket business model can never provide the quick reacting, personalised service that he provides. For example, he knows most of his customers from 4pm onwards on a first name basis. and when a customer asked for Martins Hill organic wine to be stocked, he had it in store in a few days.

But is the writing on the wall for locally owned small business?

A store manager in Mullumbimby shared this well reasoned recipe for corporate retail control with us: First, take the figures for expansion of the supermarkets and their bottle shops into more towns. Dan Murphys (owned by Woolies) alone expect to open another 200 stores in NSW in the next year, with the Coles stores hot on their heels. Next, add a similar growth in independent retailers, cafes and restaurants buying their staples from them instead of direct from Campbells and other wholesalers. Cook this in a slowing economy, and see what happens to the wholesale sector. Some independent managers beleive its days are numbered and in five to ten years there will be supermarket control at a wholesale and retail level.

This is not a recipe for optimism, but what can we do?

After three days on the road, we end up in Mullumbimby, just up the road from Byron. Woolies have just opened a store here, after winning development approval at State government level in the face of local opposition, a blow softened by the offer of organic chicken at $6 per kilo. The locals tell that they are lucky to make eye contact when checking out at Woolies, but have to add in extra time for talking to the staff and other customers when they shop at the locally owned supermarket, or at the iconic Santos health store.

The answer is there: strong communities will support the shops and restaurants who love serving them. As part of a small family farm and wine business, we hope that community supported, small market capitalism will prevail. We are doing what we can to help, but we are little more than a pimple of the elephants bum, as Pennie Scott once commented here, on a post about organic farming in a world of chemical based agriculture.

The independent retail trade is a vital part of our economy and community.
Lets support it but buying local, and avoiding the growing retail duopoloy. If there enough pimples on the elephants bum, he'll have to change his lifestyle!

New photos from the Rosnay cottage

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 14:42:00 +0000

One of our recent guests, Frederique, emailed us these great photos she took whilst staying at the cottage last month. It was a glorious autumn, a lovely time to visit.

Drink organic - its a sure way to help save the climate!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 16:04:00 +0000

By Sam Statham
I have just done some pretty interesting statistics. They are of course rubbery, but still interesting.

They are based on our farm. I have been looking carefully at our 2010 soil test reports and calculated how much carbon has been sequestered by Rosnay since we converted it to organic farming in 1998.

In 1998, our soil contained 0.25% organic carbon. This is not unusual. The farming areas of NSW are generally as low as this, acid on top and alkaline and often salty at depth on the lower slopes. The soil is called "Sunday Soil". It rains Friday, its too wet Saturday, you can plow it Sunday, and its too dry Monday. This is due to a lack of soil carbon and humus, caused by chemical intensive agriculture. There were parts of Rosnay that, if you used a subsoil or Yeomans plow, you would pull up 60cm cubes of solid hard set dirt. How can worms live in there?

In 1998 we began converting Rosnay not only to organic farming, but to perennial crops: vines, olives and figs. By 2010, Rosnay's top foot of soil has an average of 1.72% organic carbon. This is an increase over 12 years of 1.47% (or relative to 0.25%, its an increase of 588%), which if you multiply by the weight of soil in one hectare one foot deep, 3658t, is 53 tonnes of sequestered carbon per hectare (http://soilcarboncoalition.org/calculation). Over 12 years of organic farming, that's 4.5t/ha of sequestered carbon per hectare per year, with more to come.

If there were a price on carbon of $40/t, we would have generated $180 per hectare, and over our 30 hectares, that adds up to $5,400 a year... Oops... Forget talking dollars for "soil farmers", as the Carbon Farming Initiative says that soil carbon sequestration credits are not "Kyoto compliant" anyway. That CFI thing is doublespeak.

So instead, let me ask you: If it helps sequester a large chunk of greenhouse gas, what would you say to Australia phasing out chemicals in agriculture, starting with viticulture, and moving towards organic farming? If you just got half the carbon buildup that we had here, say 2.25t/ha per year, times the Aussie vineyard area of 158,000 hectares (Abare), you are locking away over 700,000 tonnes of carbon per year. Would you choose organic wine?

Driving the point even more, solid research collated by the Organic Federation of Australia says that Australia only needs to sequester a quarter our amount, or 1.1 tonnes of CO2 per hectare, to be carbon neutral!

Of couse this pales in comparison with the carbon savings of stopping the woodchip industry. The area of Aussie deforestation each year is actually 20% more than the whole vineyard area. Thats the reverse of what we are doing.

And sure, you can only go so far before you reach a "climax" of organic soil carbon after which the soil can no longer absorb carbon. But its still a lot of carbon to put away for the next 10-20 years when we might run out of oil, and uranium if we are lucky.

Its a big ask to say "drink organic to save the climate", but even if you are a sceptic and dont trust the government, or the IPCC, at least you'll be drinking organic wine which is better for you. You would have to drink to that!

Rosnay Triple Blend 2006 Tasting Notes

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Tue, 03 May 2011 13:28:00 +0000

PROFILE NOTES
Region: NSW Central Ranges (Canowindra) on the banks of the Belubula River
Grape Variety: Cabernet (40%), Shiraz (40%), Merlot (20%)
Vintage: 2006
Closure: Cork (750ml and magnum) and screw cap (375ml)
Peak drinking: Now
Body: Full body
Alcohol: 14%
Oak: Nil

TASTING NOTES
Colour: Vibrant, deep dark plum red with purple hues
Nose: Big, rich, jammy nose. Juicy plum and cherry overtones combined with blackberries and spice aromas.
Palate: This wine is blended to capture all the elegant fruit characters that it has to offer in a wine. The Cabernet provides the rich flavour, length and structure. The Shiraz imparts a spicy complexity and richness. The merlot adds softness. It is a finely structured, subtle wine, showing ripe plum and spicy fruit flavours, complimented by a lingering fruit finish. .
Serving temp: 18-20 degrees C

Compiled and written by Colin Moss, Wine Educator and Consultant Sommelier. Please feel free to add your own notes in the comments box!

Is it organic? A healthy reality check...

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Tue, 03 May 2011 13:16:00 +0000

by Sam Staham
Sometimes you read or view something that challenges your beliefs. Its generally quite a healthy little seed of doubt in the window box of your world view, that grows until you can no longer ignore it, but need to double check your thinking software.

"Is it Organic", by Mischa Popoff, is one such book. A friend of mine and organic farmer lent it to me. Popoff's 600 page book was published last year in the US, and its the most vehement attack on organic farming certification and practices that I have read. Popoff claims to be a believer in organics, and bases his authority on the fact that he was once an organic farm auditor, and is the son of a farmer.
Popoff's main gripe is the fact that organic certification does not require routine and/or random product and paddock testing for chemicals. This main grievance is built up with a host of angry accusations, calling organic farmers luddites and suckers for idealistic urban elites, calling organic food too expensive and no more wholesome, calling certifiers corrupt with vested intersts, and calling the government a fascist conspiracy.

I had to wade though a lot of emotional words to get to the realisation that Popoff, however angry he is at having been marginalised for his views, does raise a fundamental issue.

Is it organic, or is the way it is made organic? Ie, is organics about the product itself being certified as chemical free, or is it about the process of production as being certified as taking all reasonable measures to avoid contamination and be sustainable???

This is a question that actually came up a decade ago as the Organic Federation of Australia presented its position on GM (genetic engineering) contamination to government and industry forums. The big boys like Cargill would ask, "Why not simply introduce a threshold for contamination and test organic products?"

The GM issue, which is coming to a head with the Steve Marsh contamination in WA, shows clearly this distinction between organics as a product versus organic as a process. In its decision to decertify all affected areas of Steve's farm, NASAA referred to the newly introduced Australian Standard 2000-2009 Organic and Biodynamic Products. Developed with government involvement and support, the standard states in its opening paragraphs:

"This Standard is based on the process of production and preparation as a defining factor in the nature of the finished product and does not therefore guarantee that the finished product is completely free from adventitious contamination arising from factors beyond the control of the operator. Nonetheless, the processes described within will maximise the quality and wholesomeness of food and other products and ensure the lowest possible risk of contamination of all finished products". (S 1.1.9)

On this basis, given that GM is prohibited from organic farming processes, Steve's organic certifier had no choice but to decertify all affected areas of his farm: The genetically engineered plants and their progeny are growing within the production process and therefore pose an unreasonable risk to integrity of the organic farm, crops and livestock (precautionary principle). This is a more fundamental and reasonable response than imposing a threshold and testing regime on Steve and the downstream supply chain.

I admit that I was unable to stomach much of Popoff's book, so I flicked to the final chapters and was not suprised to read him attacking the GM free policy of organic standards. If I had the time to read all 600 pages I could do a better book review, but the conclusion would probably be the same: We need to avoid the bureaucratisation of organic certification, and we need a strong and independent peak body for the organic movement if it is not to lose its way and suffer from attacks like those of Popoff.

By bureaucratisation I mean the fact that every input I use as a farmer has to have organic certification now. If it doesnt, I have to apply to our certifier to use it. For example, I wanted to use a yoghurt-based product for powdery mildew this season, I wrote a detailed request in the beginning of January, and I still have no answer, four months later. I know its fine to use, but I asked the office, just to be safe, and as a result I couldn't use it even to save the crop. You could say that some of the organic certifiers have extended their reach too far into the input supply chain and are dragging their feet in allowing farmers to use products not making revenue for them. Likewise downstream in the chain - last year we were charged an extra $250 to inspect our wine warehouse - as if anything can contaminate finished, bottled and labelled wine! Meanwhile we pay 1% of turnover to promote the company's logo, rather than organics generally (however, there are other less top-heavy certifiers, that dont charge a levy, if you can afford to change over your labels).

By a strong and independent peak body, I mean the Organic Federation of Australia. I resigned form the OFA committee a decade ago to focus on our farm and family, and ever since I have watched it being attacked by competing elements of the "Industry", whose vision is to have one dominant certification company to lead us. If this continues, and there is only one victor in the "battle of the logos", there will be much more potential for Popoff's scenarios to materialise. In a natural ecosystem, cultural diversity gives stability, while monocultures are more susceptible to pests. I believe now more than ever that we need certain certifiers to stop attacking, and instead join and support the OFA now and be part of a culture of diversity with one unified voice for our Movement.

In fact, its becoming tempting to abandon organic logos altogether, as we are now doing, if it helps put an end to the competitive "logomania" of the certifiers today, and focus on the job at hand: growing clean and healthy organic food as part of a popular movement towards organic living.

Rosnay Triple Blend 2008 Tasting Notes

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 23:29:00 +0000

PROFILE NOTES
Region: NSW Central Ranges (Canowindra) on the banks of the Belubula River
Grape Variety: Shiraz (50%), Cabernet (25%), Merlot (25%)
Vintage: 2008
Closure: Screw cap
Peak drinking: Now
Body: Full body
Alcohol: 14%
Oak: Nil

TASTING NOTES
Colour: Deep garnet red with alluring bright purple hue
Nose: Rich, ripe berry fruit on the nose with dark plum and cherry overtones with a hint of spice
Palate: This is a spectacular wine. A generous flavour with supple character with very impressive ripe fruit. This wine takes off immediately to engage the palate with a serious serving of mixed spicy dark fruit and a wash of tannins that linger on the palate.
Serving temp: 18 degrees C

Compiled and written by Colin Moss, Wine Educator and Consultant Sommelier. Please feel free to add your own notes in the comments box!

Rosnay shiraz and merlot escape Powdery Mildew and Botrytis: happy days...

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:13:00 +0000

It was a big day last Monday after a huge Flickerfest weekend. We harvested grapes for over 9 hours, Richard and Sam relaying the 6 tonne trailers back and forth to the Windowrie winery, clocking up 40 tonnes of Shiraz and Merlot for the 2011 Rosnay Triple Blend. This is the last pick before the Cab Sauv, the final hurrah whose date depends on how the canopy holds up as autumn washes over us.

It was not without incident... we had three trailer tyres blow out on us towing the grapes to the winery. But after the battle to get a crop of good fruit over the last season a few tyres didnt slow us down.

In our last vintage report we focused on Downy Mildew, and whilst we had passed farly well through the first half of the season and avoided the brunt of the downy mildew, we still faced the hardest months before we could bank on a crop. The greatest challenges to the grape grower after christmas is late season powdery mildew and then botrytis. Well, we didnt worry about "the bot" as organic vineyards dont get it, or not nearly as much, as conventional (with a good example of that in Orange this year). Our bigger concern was

Powdery Mildew.... Arch enemy

It was 9 years ago but it seems like yesterday... We were out selective hand picking chardonnay in February 2002. Tonnes were being dropped to the ground. The winemaker's nostrils were flaring over our shoulders as he made sure we didnt pick any infected fruit. Fruit with the mildew on it has a strong musty or mushroomy smell and flavour.

This is not like downy mildew, whose cost is mainly loss of yield early in the season. In some ways it is a cheap way to thin a crop if there is too much of it whilst it doesnt affect the quality of the final crop anything like powdery mildew does. So, Powdery wins the best baddie competition for us. A good place to learn about the basics of these two diseases has been some new fact sheets produced by the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation:

"There are more differences between the two mildews than similarities, so the name ‘mildew’ for both can be misleading. Until recently, both were considered fungi (downy is now classified an algae) and both pathogens produce a mildew (‘mele deaw’, Old English for ‘honey dew’). This name derives from the thin coating of white mould that both diseases produce on infected plants. That is about where the similarities end. Powdery mildew is well named – something that is ‘powdery’ is ‘fine and dry like dust’. This associates well with the conditions in which powdery spreads – in fine, dry weather. Although it grows better at higher humidity (unlike downy, which needs rainfall and leafwetness), powdery can spread without free-water."

Up until Christmas all we had done was prevent powdery mildew with the traditional sulfur sprays, and some BD and teas. Sulfur is not a curative, and it doesnt strengthen the vine from within. By late December we saw some in the Chardonnay (see photo). We have always seen Christmas as a kind of safe cutoff for powdery, but this season we didnt achive that and also the season was later. When we saw spores on Cabernet in early January, we suddenly realised we had a long way to go still, and we had no choice but to pull out all the stops to keep it from spreading. We had to change tack.

As we are not a research station, please excuse the lack of thorough controls for the things we did during that month, but what we know now is that one of them, or a combination of them, stopped the mildew. Here is a summary of our January program:

29 December: Sprayed the whole vineyard with copper and sulfur. We thought this was our last spray for the season.

5 January: Realised we had powdery in the Cabernet and Shiraz to lesser degree. Started doing a lot of research and talking to product suppliers and other growers.

8 January: Sprayed "Renew". We came across this product whilst trying to locate a product suggested by one of our blog readers: Bio-N (thanks Tony!). Aparently Bio-N can destroy midew, so we looked up the people who sell it, and came across the former BFA director, organic farmer and owner of Munash Fertilisers: Ian Munro.

Well actually it wasnt Bio-N, which he also sells, but a new product called Renew, which Ian recommended, mainly because a flush of nitrogen is never a good thing as you approach harvest. According to the Munash website, "Renew is a mineral liquid fertilizer with derivatives from the sea. It contains a balanced proportion of trace elements which has a natural composition similar to what is found in humans. Renew is full of minerals and the plants absorb the minerals as nutrients very quickly."

We sprayed Renew on the whole vineyard at the very low rate of around a cup per hectare of concentrate, mixed with 5litres a hectare of molasses brewed in our flowforms. Feed the beneficial microbes with the molasses, kick them into life with renew, and maintain the beneficial microbe population with later sprays of molasses only (which we didnt do). Look at the foam as it brewed in the flowforms for a few hours before spraying!

11 Jan: Sprayed Eco Carb. We've used Eco Carb plenty of times... Without being sure if it was working. We had seen our own and other vineyards suffer mildew despite plenty of the stuff being used. However, late in the season there is not much else to use (apart from milk, which may taint the wine if used late int he season), so we sprayed sulfur and Eco carb on the reds. How it works is summarised on the site: "EcoCarb is based on activated potassium bicarbonate and a proprietary surfactant system that increases the distribution of bicarbonate ions over plant surfaces. EcoCarb changes the pH on leaf surfaces to highly alkaline as well as creating a strong osmotic imbalance between microscopic organisms and the surrounding solution on the plant surface. This has the effect of severely disrupting spores and fungi cell walls. EcoCarb is registered for the control of Powdery mildew in Grapes and Roses."

We think it worked this year, as a curative but still combined with sulfur. Within a day there was a browning of the normally silvery powdery spores in the Shiraz. However to do it we had to borrow a better spray unit that could push it right into the bunches in the middle of the canopy at a high water rate of 1000 litres per hectare. So often, that is the key. Winter job: modify our sprayer.

16 Jan: Sprayed Phos-Life. Queenslanders will never forget the floods of January 2011, and the reality sometimes only hits us in other areas when transport is cut. In our case we wanted to get hold of a diatomaceous earth product called Dia Life, from Nurti-Tech in QLD. We read that a "milk" of diatomaceous earth, rich in silica, could control powdery mildew. But bBecause of the floods we couldnt get any of it, and had to take a locally available alternative from Guy Webb of Gaia Consultancy at Forbes: Phos Life.

According to Nutri-Tech's product spec sheet, "Phos-Life contains high levels of calcium. Calcium and phosphate are the governors of plant health and high brix levels. Calcium and phosphate are normally incompatible in ionic form, but not in micronised, colloidal form. The combination of plant-available calcium (26%) and phosphate (10%) generates tremendous energy in the soil. Phos-Life also contains a rich lode of trace elements, including good levels of zinc. The mineral component can become plant available within days." It also contains high levels of Silica (14%) which was the main mineral we wanted in the diatomaceous earth. We sprayed Phos-Life on the reds.Their leaves seemed to darken up after it.

30 January: Sprayed BT and BSub. As we approached harvest we stopped the nutritional / pH approach and concentrated on microbes: Bacillus Subtilis for powdery mildew and Bacillus Thuringiensis for the caterpillars that were right out of balance and defoliating vines. The BT certainly worked (even a 4 year old bucket we had worked!), and the B-Sub may have helped slow the powdery mildew, but not sure. Thanks to Guy Webb for giving us the B Sub.

4 February: Harvested 8 tonnes for vintage chardonnay sparkling base, 90% Chardonnay and 10% Semillon at 9.8 baume. The fruit had good flavour and the best acidity we have had: 11 grams per litre natural acid.

14 February: Harvested 14 tonnes for sparkling rose base from Shiraz (92%) and Mourverdre (8%), again with good fruit at low baume and plenty of natural acid.

28 February: Hand sprayed EL400. As the table chardonnay harvest approached we had one more string in our testing bow, which in this case we sprayed by hand on just a few infected bunches of Chardonnay and looked at them the following day. The product was EL400, recommended to us by an old friend, Stafford Lowe. His email summarises what it is: "I can send some neutral anolyte down to you to try. This is a bacteriocide/virocide/fungicide made electronically from salt and water (organic). It is not chlorine although chlorine/oxygen compounds are produced. I would produce it using potassium chloride rather than sodium chloride. My own experience with this has been quite successful with powdery mildew. May I suggest you look at the manufacturers web site www.envirolyte.com ." Stafford sent us a few litres to sample and we should have used it earlier than we did. It has huge potential. Perhaps a project for the GWRDC?

7 March: Harvested 15t Chardonnay and Semillon for table wines, 12.8 baume, good fruit and acid.This was a major relief, as Chardonnay is worst for mildew.

15 March: Winemaker suspects some powdery in Shiraz. Some slightly musty smells and other crops already being rejected. We faced a decision as to whether to pick it at 12.5 baume and risk making a light red with green characters, in order to avoid losing the crop all together to botrytis if the season turns wetter. We chose to "call a friend" and rang David Bruer, pioneering organic vigneron from Langhorne Creek. He gave the hard answer, which was the right one. "Leave it".

23-24 March: Biodynamic ripening spray. As soon as possible we ordered horn silica, potentised equisetum and summer horn clay and sprayed it on the whole vineyard yet to be harvested - the reds - at the rate of 40 litres a hectare as a fine mist with the suzuki ute and two nozzles.In 2004 we increased baume by 2 in a week (almost over-ripening it) by spraying for three days in a row at sunset. This time we only sprayed it for 2 days and we also included the herb equisetum to help dry out any fungi. In December we also sprayed equisetum tea (see our Youtube video) at around moon-saturn opposition... Or just say, during the peak hot and humid mildew conditions.

28 March: Harvest 40t Shiraz and Merlot, at 13 baume, and the winemaker is happy: no mustiness and good flavour. As we replaced tyres and cart the fruit to the crusher, I thanked life for throwing challenges like mildew at us, as it helped connect us with amazing people who made the challenge winnable.

Some might call it management on the run, and its true. We know that something we did worked. Next year we will have to plan and simplify things and/or start some things a lot earlier. Your suggestions are of course VERY welcome!

Japan Earthquake Fundraiser

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Statham) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 06:58:00 +0000

Following the huge success of Flickerfest 2011 at Rosnay, Flickerfest, Pics in the Sticks, Rosnay and several local businesses have teamed up to raise much needed funds for the Japanese earthquake disaster relief.

We hope to see you here on the 16th!
Check out the Facebook event for it!