It was great to see winemaker Damien in action hosting tastings in his winery at the Tastes of Rutherglen festival. Hard to believe how much life has changed in less than 4 weeks.

Damien has since sent this update about vintage and more as the picture started to change…

Q. How is this vintage shaping up in the vineyards of Rutherglen and North East Victoria? In particular, with the weather and fire conditions this summer and the current COVID-19 situation?

Sadly vintage is not shaping up at all for Cofield Wines. We conducted a number of smoke taint tests and trial ferments across our two vineyards, and they painted a pretty depressing picture – we would rather make no wine at all than compromise quality. It’s important to point out that smoke taint can be pretty variable, so outcomes will differ across the North East.

Q. In a time where we are likely to be staying home more often, what gems can we expect to find for delivery in your online store?

I think you can approach it one of two ways – our gold medal winning Prosecco to lighten the mood and perhaps celebrate the little things in life, or a deep, dark Durif to quietly contemplate world affairs. The current release 2017 is a cracker.

Q. 2020 is already turning out to be a hard one to predict. But what new releases and plans does this year have in store for Cofield Wines?

We are currently working on an exciting release of premium small batch wines that will be released mid-year. This includes a single vineyard Chardonnay, Shiraz and Durif from the excellent 2018 vintage, and Reserve Pinot Chardonnay aged for ten years on lees. We can’t wait to share them.

Looking forward to having Damien back in The Wine Loop later this year…

More vintage updates coming soon. Stay safe and home,

Karen