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Nearing the Home Stretch of a Great Career
It’s been a great ride but I’m progressing to the next phase that will involve more traveling. Looking back, I seem to be drawn to challenge and adventure. Born and…
The Times They Are a-Changin’
The 2024 season has been ideal for Orange. The rain and sunshine were pretty much custom ordered for growing wine grapes. One winemaker has quipped, “I’ve waited 27 years for…
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…
2024 Halliday Wine Companion Awards
We are humbled by the recognition awarded to us from the 2024 Halliday Wine Companion. 5 red stars, and an average of 95+ points for our wines. We also received…
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 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…
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…
Over a Glass, Podcast with Shanteh Wale
I recently had the great pleasure of chatting with Shanteh Wale about why I do what I do. Shanteh is a great supporter of Orange, and NSW wines and brings a…
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 –…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
Gourmet Traveller WINE Magazine Cellar Door of the Year Awards
We were thrilled to hear that we have been awarded the ‘Best Additional Cellar Door Experience (Art & Gardens)‘ in the latest edition of Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine. Read the…
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…
Relentless exploration, questioning & experimentation
Patina’s Gerald Naef is a winemaker with a penchant for perfection and experimentation. He is constantly questioning his winemaking in order to keep creating better wines whilst ensuring that the…
High elevation lifts quality for cool climate chardonnay
The Orange region’s Patina Wines has released their benchmark Chardonnays comprising the Patina Chardonnay and Patina Reserve Chardonnay. The Patina vineyard was planted in 1999 on the eastern foothills of…
The Long Dry Finish- Frost on the vines
We had a touch up from frost this spring as the overnight temperature dropped to -2.7 degrees overnight 27th September.So, this seems like a good time to talk about the…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…