Paying a few visits

Woken by the Galahs. Big screechy pink and white parrots behave like delinquents.

Hooked up, as they say here, with Emily the photographer who has charted RedHeads history since when it was just one little shed. Today, we are  going to see - and record - how it grew. We are going see to ALL the sheds if we can this week.

Recap; we helped set up 'RedHeads' in '03 because Australia's wine industry was going wrong. It seemed all the nice little independent, usually family, wineries were being bought up by the Big Groups to the point where 90%+ of Aussie wine came from just four outfits. Good old cellars were shut down and their production moved to mega-wineries the size of oil refineries. WRONG!

Out went the individuality and the character we craved. In came the boring and the bland. It worked with the supermarkets ... For a while. Until the customers realised it all tasted the same.  Never any use to Laithwaites. We desperately needed new sources.

And ... The young winemakers we knew felt they were just like workers on a production line.  They couldn't 'create'. They just pushed buttons.

So one fine, mad day, with one fine mad young bloke, we bought them the old shed and they came, nights mostly, and did their individual little things, played rock music, drank cold beers and played pinball. It worked for them and us and caught on round the world. So well, it spilled out of the one shed and became a 'Movement'. The 'Sheddists' were born.

Starting with the late, great Mr. Piombo they set up their own 'RedHeads' very basic cellar model at home. Now, you no longer had to be rich to set up a winery. Any poor farmer or 'barrel-monkey' could make their own wine.

Not easy. Not at all bloody easy. But possible.

So today first we go surprise Nat McMurtrie. Emily and I feel like Attenborough and crew. As we part the foliage and spot the 'Natsky' and his Mates in their natural habitat of sheds and rusting tractors, cars and machinery. They are performing a time-honoured ritual; laying concrete just before vintage. Why they do this no-one knows. All year, winery sheds stand silent. Eleven quiet months to lay concrete, build new bits etc in tranquillity.

So when do they do it? Vintage month! Feb/March. Always. Concrete never gets to set properly here.

Great visit. Once past the wet concrete. Nat's '08 wonderful. Nat - in his hat - Supermodel. We reckon shy bachelor Nat will be inundated with calls when the pics are published. Though a tidy woman could wreak havoc in Nat's wild domain.

Then we go Italian and meet the Pieri's. Andrew has his new shed alongside his old shed, alongside his Dad's ancient shed. The boys pose like professionals - it's the Italian, I guess - Mum not so happy. Their rich red is stunning. Their even richer Amarone-style astonishing. We'll not mention the grappa or the home-made salamis and ham. It's hard not to stay all day with the Pieri's.

Then, in the Back Shed at the Old 'RedHeads' we find our Henry. Going through his barrels of '08 to make his blend. Just the top dozen go into his iconic Wilson-Gunn. The rest ... not quite. But will make a valuable contribution to one of 'RedHeads' bigger blends like 'Back Shed' or 'Rack One'. And here's Hoops  - Adam Hooper - or 'The Man' to take possession. Fascinating tasting. The '08s fall into two groups; the pre and post heatwave wines. The latter like liquid jam. O.T.T. Great blending material though.

In the 'arvo' another italian family - from Molise hills above Termoli where I used to buy so much way back when. The Petrucci's; Joe Michael and Rosa from Castellino long supplied the great Gregg Trott at Wirra Wirra next door.

Trotty was a great man. 'Made McLaren Vale'. First cellar here for me ... '84 I think. Much missed. I think they are building a monument to him.

The Petrucci's are on their own now. Big Shed. Huge success. There's this 'Sports personality of the Year' type trophy for 'Best Australian Wine of the Year'. Called the George Mackey. Awarded by the quality Inspectors at the Government run Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation; the people who must, by law, taste and approve every exported Aussie wine. Last year they tasted 16,717 wines and nominated 131 for the final grand taste-off. Michael's 2005 Cabernet won. Up on The Winner Board with names like Coldstream Hills, Hardys, Cape Mentelle, Rosemount, Tatachilla, Wirra Wirra and Penfolds Grange.

Sadly, when he won he had hardly any wine left to sell. But ... Always the next vintage.

Another star place; the Bosworth's. She's from Nottingham. He's old Aussie stock. And a leading 'organic'. All our suppliers are pretty organic minded. That goes with the love of the land and vine they all share. So we don't usually make a song and dance. But Bos is special. Sitting in the heat, on the shady verandah of their little old stone cottage under the towering shady gums drinking old beers - or wine in my case (I never stop working) ... It was a bit of heaven. Watch out for the wines of the Battling Bosworths. After that ... I don't remember much detail.

We ended up at the Salopian Inn with Steve, Hoops and my boys (Tom flew in from Sydney today). Did we talk of wine? You bet. But mostly we talked of people. Wine People. Unrepeatable maybe sometimes, affectionate almost always. The people is why I'm here and why 40 years has gone in a blinking moment. It's why the boys and Red 'Heads' and the 'Sheddists' are here. It's probably why anyone reading this is here reading it. It's late. Very late. Jetlag time. Must stop now. Tomorrow is the Big Party.

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