Winter 2007
Dear Friends,
The past 12 months have seen some significant changes at Turkey Flat. Our long serving and much loved General Manger, Jaysen Collins, left in March to start his own business. Jaysen began working with us as an office manager in 1999 and has been an integral part of our company since then. We wish him well in his new pursuit. His role has been taken on by 5th generation Barossan, Kate Neldner. Kate comes from an accounting and business background, recently as business manager of the Barossa Wine and Tourism Association and prior to that with local wine company Thorn-Clarke. Also on the the "new staff list" is Michael Brinkley. Michael has taken on the role of Warehouse/ Cellar door manager and will liaise between these areas and the winery. He has a Wine Marketing degree and extensive local and overseas experience in the wine industry. Michael supports Jodhi to allow her to spend more time looking after our key customers.
As well as personnel changes, we have also moved offices, a whole '20metres' to our new site between the winery and barrel cellar.
The "Butchers Block" room is currently being furnished for special functions and private tastings. We intend to commence a programme of museum tastings for our regular customers later this year.
The other 'big' news is the purchase of a new vineyard. After many years of searching and weeks of negotiating, we have bought a fantastic old vineyard at Koonunga Hill. Planted to Shiraz, Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon this vineyard is in the middle of 'Grange' country, is dry grown and has a great collection of aged vines. It will be a welcome addition to our Bethany and Stonewell vineyards, giving us more blending options and greater complexity, without compromising the integrity of our wines.
The installation of rainwater tanks to collect water from the warehouse has paid off. This has meant that even dry years, such as 2006, our winery has not needed to use valuable Murray River water. We are self-suffient throughout most of the year and in tough years when it doesn't rain, we can access our bore adjacent to the Bethany Creek.