Winter 2005
Dear Friends,
The first few months of 2005 have seen some major personnel changes at Turkey Flat. On the 26th February our winemaker, Pete Schell left to pursue other interests. We were fortunate to have Michael Kluczko come in at short notice and help out for the 2005 harvest. Michael was between jobs (he had previously been with Seppelts and Penfolds as chief sparkling Winemaker, Tarrawarra in the Yarra Valley, Corbans in New Zealand as Chief Winemaker and more recently Winery Director for the Lion Nathan wine group) and whilst he is currently living in the USA, he was kind enough to extend his stay in Australia. He also happens to be my first cousin so at least we keep things in the family. Michael is now back in the USA and new winemaker Jules Campbell started on June 6th. Jules is from the famous Campbell winemaking family in Rutherglen and brings to Turkey Flat her many years experience making wine in California, Chile, France, Spain and more recently with Two Hands in the Barossa Valley. In addition to Jules we have Michael Lehmann (grandson of Barossa legend Peter Lehmann) working in the winery as our Junior Winemaker.
Cheers!
Peter & Christie Schulz
Turkey Flat - A True Winery
Consumers are being bombarded with new wine brands from all over Australia. Many of these brands do not have wineries, vineyards or employees and are no more than “virtual” wine brands. Some are offering the dreaded cleanskins, something which is against the Turkey Flat philosophy. I thought it would be timely to remind our customers that we are a fully integrated wine company. We have our own vineyards, winery and bottle most of our wine on site. We also warehouse and distribute our wines from our cellars. We are also family owned and employ many local families.
New distributor in UK and Ireland
After many months of negotiation we have extended our UK & Ireland distribution arrangement with Mentzendorff, an old established wine merchant founded in 1858. We are delighted to be included in this premium wine shippers portfolio with the likes of Champagne Bollinger, Taylors, Crofts and Fonseca Port, Chanson Burgundy and M. Chapoutier from the Rhone Valley.
New Rousanne Vineyard
Those of you who frequent our cellar door will notice the young vineyard just next to the tasting room. These are Rousanne vines planted on the site of our past Semillon Vineyard. Unfortunately Semillon has become a “hard sell” in the wine business and we have decided to go all “Rhone” white varietals. After the 2003 Semillon Marsanne (the last Semillon blend) we will be offering a Marsanne Viognier blend. This will be released in late 2005.
Great New Reviews
We often host wine journalists throughout the year and we were fortunate to host three of the world’s most popular wine writers. They were Jancis Robinson MW (Financial Times UK, The Oxford Companion to Wine, Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine, Decanter), Matthew Dukes (www.expertwine.com, Daily Mail UK, UK Wine Communicator of the Year (past winner)) and Harvey Steinman (Wine Spectator). Matthew Dukes included our 2004 Rosé in his 100 best Australian Wines of 2005, writing “Australia’s most balanced and complex rosé, which can either be drunk straight from the bottle on a picnic, or at the Waterside with grouse.”
For those of you who follow the Wine Advocate our latest Robert Parker Jnr. Ratings are listed below:
- 2002 Butchers Block – 92 points
- 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon – 90 points
- 2002Grenache75&template=wine_details" > Grenache – 92 points
- 2004 Rosé – 89 points
2005 Release
Although the 2003 Shiraz is in extremely short supply, we have packed about two hundred 6 pack cases of this wine using screw caps. Please indicate whether you wish to have screw caps or corks on the order form. These will only be available to our mail order and cellar door customers.
Your details will be automatically updated on our mailing list upon receipt of your order. For those of you who would like to remain on our mailing list but do not wish to order this year, please write your name and address on the back of the enclosed reply paid envelope and return to us, or send us an e-mail.