SPRING 2024 NEWSLETTER — First Ridge Wines

A FEW WORDS FROM BEHIND THE SCENES

We’re a little late with our quarterly Newsletter for Spring, due to us participating in a number of events recently, including Wines of The West at Katoomba, Flavours of Mudgee, Hills Food and Wine Festival at Bella Vista and Lane Cove by The River. It was fantastic to see so many new and familiar faces at all the events.

Our wines are still proving a popular option for wedding receptions, and in addition to local weddings, some of our wines have found their way to receptions in The Hunter Valley, Somersby and Culburra.

We still have some stock of our 2023 Pinot Grigio to sell before we release the 2024 Vintage, so we’ve reduced the price to $19, down from $29! This special price is available both on line and at our cellar door, just in time to stock up for the upcoming festive season.

THOUGHTS FROM THE CELLAR DOOR

As always, the view from the cellar door is stunning and the vines look amazing…, if you sit here while enjoying a glass of your favourite First Ridge wine, you can almost see the vines grow!

It’s always a pleasure to see so many people visit our cellar door and the past few months have been no exception. Flavours of Mudgee, which was held in the streets of Mudgee on 28th September proved very popular once again and it was fantastic to see extra visitors to our cellar door over the weekend, and the October long weekend was no exception.

We’ve recently released our 2024 Fiano which is already proving to be very popular at the cellar door.

Also recently released is our 2023 Sangiovese Frizzante which is perfect for the sunny Spring weather, and that’ll be followed by the release of our 2023 Vermentino Frizzante.

Christmas is fast approaching, but there’s still time to buy a few FIRST RIDGE wines for Christmas lunch or a special gift.

If you happen to be visiting Mudgee over the Christmas New Year period, our cellar door will be open Thursday to Monday as usual, so we hope to see you soon!

Gabrielle, Janette, Donna & Jeanette.

An Update from our Wine Maker

The start of Spring was a bit of a rollercoaster ride and giving anybody with a weather prediction a win. At times it’s been warmer, colder, drier and wetter, and that was just September! Despite this, the Mudgee countryside looks magnificent bathed in a wash of green and vibrant new vine growth.

From a winery perspective the focus has been on wine in barrel with analysis, adjustments and topping. The warmer weekend days are perfect for enjoying a glass of the new release white wines that are really singing right now. For the slightly cooler evening BBQ I’m leaning towards the ever reliable Sangiovese, bright, fruit driven and deliciously medium weight.

James Manners - Wine Maker

Viticulture Report - News From Among The Vines

Winter over all was fairly mild with a few frosty mornings thrown in, although a wetter winter than the previous vintage saw soil temperatures remain much higher than in normal years.

So, with moisture available and an increase in soil temperature, growth was always going to be early. Whereas August was untraditionally warm to even hot, which saw a lot of early sap flow and woolly bud with leaf visible in our Sangiovese, Pinot Gris, and Fiano prior to end of August. In turn, growth was rapid and it looked like it would be an early vintage before devastation hit the region on 16th of September, which saw a frost event that was widespread across the valley.

However, the Mudgee Ridge property faired very will which shows how important the site selection is to a premium vineyard. Soils are critical along with irrigation and airflow. In this case airflow was extremely important as the vineyard is laid out in a way to let cold air drain off the property which reduces frost risk. We did sustain some frost damage but overall it was minimal and the frost recovery since has been very strong which will lead to minimal yield reduction ensuring we have plenty of high-quality fruit to make our premium wines which you all enjoy.