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Shortlisted for WINEMAKER of the YEAR

This is a real honour to be named alongside such wonderful winemakers. Here’s the list: 2024 Winemaker of the Year Shortlist Colin McBryde – Adelina Wines, Clare ValleyGerald Naef –…

Patina Vineyard

Ripening grapes

Like most things in winemaking, picking grapes at the right time is both an art and a science. Historically wine grapes have been picked when sugar and acid levels indicate…

Riding

Recent travels abroad

It’s raining in Paris.  Three floors below the horns are blaring, lights flashing, three police vans are futilely adding the occasional whoop of siren, but there’s no hope of getting…

Patina reds

Patina Winter Wine Club Dozen

The Patina Winter Winemaker’s Dozen The Patina Winter Winemaker Selected Dozen will be sent out 11th July 2023. I’ve selected an interesting cross section of my wines, but you can change…

Patina Vineyards in the mist

Roller Coaster Season!

There were a few tractors bogged to their axels last spring… some were abandoned until December.  I managed to conduct all vineyard operations without getting bogged but left some quite…

The science behind ageing wine

Aged wines are a bit of a rarity and usually command a higher price when compared to young drink-now wines… up until optimum drinking, from there they can lose value…

2018 Patina Pinot Noir

Our 2018 Patina Pinot Noir is a wine that we are really proud of. It is drinking really well at the moment, and will continue to develop and evolve on…

Patina Vineyards in the mist

High Altitude Grape Growing

So if we must put up with the frost there must be some reason to grow grapes in the brass monkey country… The vast majority of vineyards in the world…

2021 Patina Scandalous Riesling

95 Points2023 Halliday Wine Companion “Hand picked from an elevated source, circa 880-900m. Unadulterated styling, aside from some skin contact in the press, imparting a skein of white-pepper freshness, offset…

Patina Vineyard

2019 Patina Reserve Chardonnay

95 PointsHalliday Wine Companion “I love the savoury stretch of the chardonnays at this address. The norm of clattering stone fruits, new wood and reductive handling à l’Australienne can be…

A new Era

A new era for Patina

Since inception Patina has gone through a number of phases:  It began with 100 kg of grapes picked from my brother-in-law’s vineyard in 1999 and fermented in the laundry.  Then…

Patina Vineyard

The problem with wet weather

Without rain we wouldn’t have a vineyard, but this stuff also causes us a bit of grief. As a rule rain received in Orange prior to Christmas is beneficial and…

Gerald Naef, winemaker

Oxygen and Wine

There is a bit of a love hate relationship between oxygen and wine. For the most part it is thought that oxygen is a detriment to wine… but this isn’t…

Grapevine compound bud

I borrowed this drawing from Washington State University. You can Click this link if you’d like to learn a bit more about grapevine buds as relates to frost damage. The…

Patina Winemaker Gerald Naef

Perfect Patina

96 Points “Gerald and Angela Naef have quietly gone about their business in Orange for a couple of decades – crafting wines of finesse and immense longevity. By using the…

Gerald Naef, winemaker

Wine fining

Wine fining is little understood outside the winemaking community. When someone reads the back label, they often get a confused look with “Do you really put milk in wine?” We…

Patina vines sun rise

Understanding Merlot

Merlot is notably softer than Cabernet Sauvignon particularly when grown in warmer areas. It is known to be of lighter colour than Shiraz and is generally considered an early drinking…

Snow at Patina

Historical droughts

I thought it very topical to write about the drought in my Long Dry Finish as it is pretty much impacting everyone. It has an impact on wine as well…

Patina Reserve Chardonnay

Why cool climate matters

It’s much more expensive to establish and grow grapes in cool climates than in warmer climates. So apart from beautiful views there must be some substantial reasons to grow grapes…

Patina Sunset

What is cork taint

Cork taint is primarily produced by fungi and can ruin wine in very low doses. I rate Cork Taint in four stages as it increases in concentration: at very low…

Patina vineyards

Why we dislike H2S

Why we dislike H2S H2S (Hydrogen Sulfide) is a rotten egg gas. I suppose I could stop here and everyone would know why we dislike H2S, however its personality is…

Patina Cellar Door

Yeast Lees

Lees are the sediment at the bottom of a wine vat made up of things like dead yeast cells, grape seeds, pulp, skin fragments and tartrates. Over time the yeast…

Patina reds

Tannins

Tannins are a natural substance found in many fruits and bark of trees and are felt via our tactile senses rather than tasted. Most people are familiar with the tannins…

Patina Tawny

Port – Fortified wines

A fortified wine is one that has been fortified with alcohol. It actually describes the process and the name sounds kind of technical but we can no longer call them…

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