Pyren Vineyard

Sarah Larnach does wine and labels.

2011-02-02T23:52:00.000-08:00

Some people may not be aware that Sarah Larnach - participating artist on our 2009 Studio Ink release - is fully adept with the whole wine thing, not to mention labeling......

Here she is doing the wine thing.....

And here is her label campaign with German beer wonder - Beck's.

This 2009 series was released through a european promotion with singer/songwriter Ladyhawke, for whom Sarah dedicates a great deal of her output in the pursuit of excellent album covers.

www.sarahlarnach.blogspot.com
www.ladyhawkemusic.com

Studio Ink

2010-12-14T20:29:00.000-08:00

Launching with the 2011 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival

we are very happy to present
6 - 10pm, 14th March, 2011

Hogan Gallery, 310 - Smith St, Collingwood, VIC

Free Entry - Complimentary glass of wine & canapes.

Pyren Vineyard has invited 12 artists to
produce a piece* under the theme

"Combinations of Two"

These artworks will be integrated into
the label of our exciting new Shiraz/Cabernet blend

Pyren Vineyard - Studio Ink

Each and every carton will feature 12 individual designs
created by the following artists.

Fleur Harris, Tomoro Takizawa, Riley Payne,
Sarah Hankinson, Julia deVille, Jacqui Stockdale,
Sarah Larnach, Danny Young, Andy Murphy,
Polly Dedman, Nate Gamble, & David Joy.

*Original artwork for sale on the night

- We hope that you can join in the celebration -

The evolution of Pyren Vineyard

2010-07-28T05:13:00.000-07:00

For those that may have missed it Pyren Vineyard has taken a leap of faith into the wonderful world of wine production in a newly established on-site winery.

After many a misadventure, and some successes revolving around the contract wine making circuit it had come to a front that enough was enough, and so it was time to take on more.

Enter Andrew Davey and Phil.

All eyes on the prize.

Phil is a black Labrador and is great for morale but not really very good with grapes.

Andrew has been faced with the task of vintage 2010, our first. After joining us in early January, he has provided a critical link in getting things accomplished in the winery with a no nonsense yet emphasised attitude.

Of course elegance and finesse are omnipresent in the Pyren winery courtesy of Phil the black Mercedes Benz Labrador.

Could it be a case of art imitating life for vintage 2010? Wines with naked ambition perhaps?

Time will tell...

Pyrenees After Vintage Lunch

2010-06-09T05:37:00.000-07:00

We recently had a chance to indulge in a 7 course endurance luncheon at Warrenmang vineyard to celebrate the 2010 vintage.

This was the 20th anniversary of the event and suffice to say, wine people like to party.

The highlight had to be the Pan seared barrel of White Suffolk lamb on seeded mustard and mascarpone mash with exotic mushroom ragu.

Thanks to Luigi and Athalie for their exceptional hospitality.

When the table cloth resembles bubble rap under the camera's flash...

- it's a wine luncheon -

Good dam fishing

2010-05-03T00:53:00.000-07:00

We got on to a 1.2kg prize winning Murry Cod from our dam to help us celebrate end of vintage.

Lemongrass, chilli, shallot, tomato, garlic, fresh lime, and white wine on basmati rice.

Phil gets exited

2010-05-03T00:39:00.000-07:00

A while back I planted a new garden bed and mulched it with straw that we had purchased for some problem spots in the vineyard. I didn't anticipate the resulting oat garden.

Phil got so exited about the oat garden that his tale lost control and generated a buzz similar to a pressure washer.

Vintage 2010

2010-04-08T22:27:00.000-07:00

Pyren Vineyard would like to thank everyone involved in making our 2010 harvest a success.

We have had many hands assist us in harvesting and processing and without all of your help it would not have been possible.

Not least Percy. Goat farmer and all round nice guy.

We would also like to take this opportunity to formally introduce Andrew Davey as our newly appointed winemaker.

Its wine goggles in the winery.

Andrew's dog Phil.

Not just another grape photo -
First fruit to be processed at our newly established winery.

Own winery = Greater control.

For 10 months of the year we spend our time cloud gazing in the vineyard. During harvest it's strictly wine gazing.

Edvard Munch - The Scream?

This one look more like Block E Shiraz

Every business needs an industry heavyweight.

Brian Joy giving the crusher a bit of muscle.

We picked up a beautiful Italian basket press before harvest. Its kind of slow but it gives us a chance to get up close and personal with the fruit.

Andrew and Martin get up close and personal.

Last Tuesday we escaped disaster by narrowly avoiding a 50mm post harvest deluge.

Flood lit, Late night processing.

We would like to thank John Harris @ www.mitchellharris.com.au for applying his craft and producing some great wines for us through the previous few years.

Our biggest thanks goes to the retailers, and the public who have given us support that is our most vital asset.

Many thanks - Leighton

Cockatoos don't twitter, we do.

2010-03-09T03:20:00.000-08:00

Follow us on twitter as we bemoan the cockatoos that screech like chalk boards at the site of our ripening fruit.

www.twitter.com/PyrenVineyard

07 Cab / 09 Sauv Blanc tasting notes

2010-03-09T03:02:00.000-08:00

The website has had an update with tasting notes for our recently released wines.

The 07 Cab Sauv is looking the goods with true regional characters you would expect from the Pyrenees.

Our experiment with barrel fermented Sauv Blanc has paid off through the release of the 09 vintage. 15% of this blend was subject to 4 year old oak barrels that resulted in wonderful texture.

www.pyrenvineyard.com/WINES.html

Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition

2009-11-04T14:44:00.000-08:00

Pyren 06Block E Shiraz is among just a handful of Australian wines to be awarded Silver at the inaugural Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition.

If you consider the Masi Amarone Classico 2004 has been awarded the same prize, you can understand just how difficult such a competition can be!!

Pyrenees Escapade + Dunkeld Mosaic

2009-10-29T20:38:00.000-07:00

Pyrenees Escapade will be held at the Avoca Racecouse this Sunday.

Taste delightful wines from world-renowned Victorian Pyrenees wineries, savour the flavours of cuisine from different European regions, and celebrate life at the Pyrenees Escapade.

www.pyrenees.org.au

Dunkeld Memorial Park will host the Mosaic Festival this weekend.

Pyren Vineyard will be showcasing our wines at the gourmet market in the park on Saturday.
Come down and enjoy food, wine and quality goods from right across the South West region. The markets start at 10am and will run throughout the course of the day.

www.dunkeldmosaic.com.au

Welcome to the Pyren Vineyard Blog

2009-08-03T02:47:00.000-07:00

Hello

Welcome and thanks for checking out Pyren Vineyard's blog.

We hope to use this feature to fill you in on what's happening at the vineyard and in the winery and letting you know about any special events or offers.

Up at the vineyard, we are seeing some moderately good flows of water into the irrigation dams and hope to shortly have enough to see us through the summer. We are lucky with our site that our three dams each have a good catchment feeding into them and that whenever there is rain, there is usually a resulting flow into the dams.

The other thing happening at the vineyard is that pruning is almost completed. This year, we are experimenting with spur pruning in addition to cane pruning. Simplistically, cane pruning involves trimming the year's growth back until you are just left with a short 'arm' and a long cane which is then wrapped around the wire. The cane then provides growth going forward. Spur pruning leaves the arm relatively intact with stems protruding from the arm which will provide the growth.

We have always cane pruned to date but we are interested to see what the results are with spur pruning. Anecdotally, spur pruning provides higher yields. Given we cropped at 1/2 ton per acre in 2009 throughout a lot of the vineyard, overcropping (with the potential for dilution of flavour) is not an issue for us. We are looking to slightly increase yields while still maintaining the concentration of flavour that is the hall-mark of our wines.

We will see the results come vintage 2010.

Thanks for reading and we hope to post again soon.