Bovine Dramatic Viticulture

As all long term Bloodwood devotees will recall, we take things seriously here out in the Middle Ordovician seabeds to the North West of Orange N.S.W.

And at this Solsticey time of year, it is the habit of those more imbued in the bio-dynamic side of things agricultural to bury especially privileged preparations of bovine manure impacted bovine horns in especially prepared compost beds to decompose over winter in order to predispose a homeopathic late afternoon dynamizing of the new Spring vineyard.

Well I think that’s what she said.

However, Bloodwood being Bloodwood, we take a slightly more direct approach. We use the bovine-dramatic method. We use the whole herd!

In dry winters like this one, when paddock feed is exhausted, the overwintering vineyard provides some excellent dry feed for our cows heading up to calving and a natural cow tongue whipper snipping of the weeds along the vine rows. And boy do they poo. The only thing we need to watch in timing their excess is their access to each vineyard. Six hundred kilo cows and wet vineyard soils don’t mix so we give them admittance as the gravelly Bloodwood soils dry out between scattered rain events; and earlier in winter is better than later when they like to rub their late winter coats off as the days get longer and warmer.

As far as varietal preference is concerned, it usually comes down to the hardness of the canes. Malbec and Merlot Noir are a bit of a favourite if you push the cows too hard.

Oh, and another benefit is that the pruners seem to work faster if there are a few cows ravenously heading down the rows towards them.

Dinner suggestion for beef with these Bloodwood reds

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a passionate red wine lover in possession of a well seasoned roast beef fillet and seasonal vegetables must be in want of a Bloodwood Beautiful Big Bovine Offer for there is no charm equal to the tenderness of fillet steak and Bloodwood red wine.

Dance Of Dreams, Sydney Opera House

VIVID - 13th and 14th June 2025

It was truly an honour for Bloodwood to be selected for this event given the event theme was “dreams.” A big thank you to the Trippas White Group, Louella, Polly and Petra at the Opera House for their enthusiastic and thoroughly professional stewardship of this event.

Being in the same company as the iconic Tyrrells and nationally revered Clonakilla was amazing. Every wine was beautifully supported by extremely professional speakers who had well told stories of their family’s history in the wine industry. A glass of Arras bubbles was followed by stellar Semillon and Chardonnay from Tyrrells while the gold star perfume and silky palate of the current Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier was supported by an aged Shiraz from their cellar. Tough for our Pinot Noir to follow these and then our Silk Purse dessert wine but thankfully they scrubbed up well.

In fact, I was really overwhelmed standing on the stage after the others had performed with ease. A big moment for us stepping into the spotlight in new outfits facing a Sydney Opera House audience. Two self taught kids from North Queensland, definitely not industry trained or savvy, who happened to pioneer Orange as a new and important cool climate wine growing area in NSW and Australia. Thankfully we were attached to a table of dear friends each night who have shared our journey as well as the essential support of a cheery table of valued customers nearby who appreciated our jokes.

Danielle Alvarez’s lamb dish was simply marvellous. On the night Mark Best was quoted as saying that was the best lamb dish he had eaten. Two lamb chops de-fatted sporting a farce covering (stuffing) of lamb and mushrooms. For 130 people each night no mean feat especially as the lamb chops were still juicy pink in the middle. Scrumptious with both the Clonakilla reds.

As good as the meat was, it was the vegetables that sang and danced for me. Having started working with the famed Alice Waters in the US, Danielle is a champion of farm to table cuisine and obtained 2 hats for Fred’s, her previous Restaurant. (Fred’s has our Maurice, Cabernet and Riesling on there.) She presented a crumbed slice of fennel with mayonnaise and anchovy as entree. (And I thought who doesn’t love a good schnitzel? Note to self- I wonder what a celeriac one would taste like?) The humble cabbage with miso was an inspired pairing and was quickly devoured on our table. A refined potato dauphinoise completed the yummy vegetables.

Dessert was divine, rhubarb mille-feuille with textbook perfect pastry topped with a fine sugar caramel crust and dreamy creme patisserie. I adore tart rhubarb (baked with orange juice and its rind with more vanilla bean sweetness than sugar,) a great counter to the rich cream. Boiled down Silk Purse added a tang to the crème pat and given a next time, I’ll happily donate 3 times the Silk Purse to give it an even more intense sweet tart kick. As Danielle’s first cookbook was “Always Add Lemon”, I felt she would understand substituting our Silk Purse in the dish for her concentrated Muscat De Beaumes De Venise, a delightful drink in itself, but this time a less sweet wine was needed.

Davide Di Giovanni and Chloe Leong danced a couple of thoughtful pieces about not connecting/ connections established. Such graceful movements, supple and rhythmic and their explanation of their work was reasoned and erudite around the dream theme.

Sydney Harbour during VIVID and the sails of the Opera House were splendidly lit. In fact the usual lights of Sydney are magical enough without VIVID’s extras like decorated ships sailing past. A full moon light night to remember.

Everything New Is Old Again

16th Oct 1997

Many thanks to a wonderful customer, Kay Cooper, a wine industry rep then, whom we met at the Regent Hotel when we launched Silk Purse, our first 1994 dessert wine. Kay sent us her copy of our invitation to the launch of our first Bloodwood sparkling, cheekily named Chirac, in 1997 at the Opera House in the very same spot as this VIVID dinner 28 years later. It was called the Harbourside Restaurant and the following was on the menu with our wines. Nowadays the prices below would hardly buy a few Canapes and glass of wine.

Entrees
Yamba Prawns with Ogo Seaweed and Sesame Soy Dressing @ 14.50
Individual Ricotta, Goat’s Curd, Charred Peppers and basil tart @ 11.50
Beetroot cured Salmon on a Potato Roesti and Horseradish Dressing @ 14.50

Mains
Panfried Snapper Fillet served with creamed Potatoes & Sorrel Sauce @ 23.50
Crusted Loin of Lamb, with Caponata and Broad Beans @ 25.00 
Grilled Barramundi Fillet served with a Ragout of Wild Mushrooms @ 25.00 

Desserts
Creme Brulee with Pistachio Biscotti @ 9.00
Lemon Curd Tart with King Island Cream @ 9.00
Chocolate Tart @ 9.00

Tales From The Cellar Door

Well in this case it is a tale from the breakfast stampede at the Hotel Beelzebub during our recent Operatic sojourn in downtown Sydney, but you’ll get the idea.

Feeling peckish, we decided to head to the runway for the hot food. Now that’s always way past the cereals, fruit, pastry and instant squeezed tropical juice swimming pool, so it is a bit of a walk on an empty stomach. Nevertheless, it was a throng of activity on both sides of the tarmac. Lines of overfed and under-dressed guests staring at their phones, brushed up against the panic stations of under-fed and overdressed staff battling to hold back that free ranging tide of uncaffinated somnambulists with a concrete mixer of scrambled eggs and a wheelie bin full of organic no longer free range bacon and carbon neutral grilled tomatoes.

Everyone was hoovering up everything as it was frantically dumped into grossly over stacked breakfast plates.

Everything except the mushrooms.

These remained a glorious untouched mountain piled half way to the ceiling over which some exclusionary force field seemed to be operating. Seems people eat what they are told to eat.

All of which brings me to Merlot as a wine style. Since the distinctly un-funny film Sideways trashed the variety a generation ago, Merlot sales have tanked. Still we persist with the variety. Hand picking, cold soaking, hand plunging and the use of the very best French oak is our attempt to bring the mushroom of grape varieties back into the spotlight.

Have we made our case..we know we have but the jury is still out.

Winter relaxation

With all our 2025 reds through malo-lactic conversion, stabilized and into barrel, we are able to take a breath in the winery.

This Apocryphally involves setting up the card table in front of the wood-fire heater for a few of months and slumbering through sleety afternoons enjoying some rare reds from our library of vinous pleasures accompanied by whatever morsel Rhonda recommends as a match. No real concentration or personal application is involved and we generally grow fatter as the winter moves into our landscape bringing the runaway growing season train into its slumberous terminus.

I wish.

If it wasn’t for 21,274 vines which need pruning; 8.5 hectares of vineyard trellis and irrigation to repair; stock needing supplemental feeding; a cellar door to attend to and the extensive financial obligations required of a small agricultural, wine making, wine selling and working dog training establishment at the end of the financial year, Apocryphal it just wouldn’t be. So pruning it is.

This is the most critical quality factor exercise in the growing year. This is your annual chance to set the crop for the next vintage according to the vigour of each individual vine. Corrective pruning also allows you to renovate any problem vines and with appropriate bud numbers and shoot positioning, establish the style of wine you want each variety to produce. And if you can prune and tie each vine in two minutes, that’s only a little over 700 hours work. This may seem daunting, but on the positive side, the good thing about sleet is that it bounces off.

New Career for No Biting

Kelpies, unlike late middle aged humans, never forget.

Sometimes they choose not to remember or decide that the perfectly recalled remembering is for another time when it suits their very crowded schedule,but, they never forget.

Especially when it comes to sheep. Sheep need herding. They need herding and herding and herding again and if those woolly bastards have chosen to forget their place in the paddock, they will definitely need another herding.

No Biting hadn’t had an ovine interaction since he was fourteen weeks of age so we thought it was time to see if he actually was a working dog as described in the puppy prospectus. Looks like the breeders warranty holds up.

Who’s a good boy?

Bloodwood’s origin story

We all have a story and you can see ours and the full range of our wines and my recipe recommendations on the Bloodwood web site, or join us for a cellar door tasting next time you are in Orange.

Bookings essential 02 63625631

Thanks to you our customers for keeping our dreams alive for 42 years.

• Stephen and Rhonda Doyle