Guns, Barbie dolls and Montepulciano

Angry revenge on a critic? Frustration with the delayed vintage? No, a rat which had allegedly been living under one of our tanks was the reason our resident winemaker Andrew Pieri got his gun out on Tuesday.

All loaded up and ready to go, Andrew was poised for action as the crane lifted the tank up... and... well, let’s just say the anti-climax was palpable as there was nothing to be seen but a few dusty twigs. Blood-thirsty Andrew was gutted. He’ll just have to offload another time soon.

We don't get post-Aus Day blues at RedHeads. We’re just happy that it's already Thursday (even though it feels like a Monday) thanks to our mid-week national hols, a day in which the guys here enjoyed everything from barbies with real-life, but generously silicon-enhanced Barbie dolls, to a more sedate but still alcohol-infused day at the cricket.

The ensuing lame promise by some this morning to abstain from alcohol for the day has already been blown out of the water though...

Whether it’s the thought of what to drink with tomorrow’s slow-cooked roast lamb (in our pizza oven) or it’s hearing about Andrew’s winemaking plans for this coming vintage, we all feel like a glass of wine already.

Andrew is going to turn his magic Amarone hands to Montepulciano this year, something his father, Mario, the local Italian stallion with a penchant for teaching the local ladies (or in fact any ladies) “dirty Italian”, will no doubt be happy about.

And it’s been another cracking week for our cellar door. Not only did we receive a letter from a couple in China who said they felt “warmed” by their RedHeads cellar door experience as they sat in the -12C cold in Beijing, but another resident winemaker, Adam Hooper, notched up a whopping $1,200 sale just from one couple coming to taste our wines.

We’d like to say this is a reflection on Hoops’ notorious charm with the ladies, but the visitors were actually two guys, so draw your own conclusion from that.

Why RedHeads is a cut above

Diehard RedHeads Studio fans, yes thousands of them, know that nothing we do here is ordinary, as can be seen in our cutting edge wines which are made by a group of superhuman, some might say godly, winemakers who painstakingly pore over every last detail.

Take Monday for example, when four of the five studio members graced our Chalk Hill Road HQ with their divine presence.

Steve spent the morning practising his near-perfect sarcasm, then turned to more serious matters in the afternoon as he admired pictures of himself surfing - photos that he‘s modestly saved onto his desktop. Andrew picked the site’s cucumbers, Nat popped in for a coffee en route to collecting his sister from the airport and Adam... well, Adam meticulously planned his route into the town centre to collect his schnitzel for lunch.

Wow. No wonder our wines are so damn good.

Wine concentration of the highest order was needed Monday evening as Steve poured the end of day wine saying that if it was correctly identified, he'd personally fork out for a ticket to the Australian Open in Melbourne. Sounds generous, but then it was a barrel-fermented 50/50 Viognier/Riesling from 2007 so no wonder he was looking bloody confident.

Our cellar door, which these days must be going head-to-head with the Sydney Opera House in terms of tourist traffic, is coming close to having all the essential items required for a successful cellar door business. The Galaga has been installed. Phew. And now the plans for the taxidermy hog’s head (to sit above the bar) are well underway. The pig whose head we will immortalise is ridden with VD – just the kind of over-the-bar conversation topic (a bit like Adam’s unhealthy obsession with Houdini and handcuffs), we think our very lucky visitors will love listening to as they sup on a glass of wine and munch on a slice of Steve’s salami.

 The cellar door is in fact still recovering from the assault of the Wine People (http://www.winepeople.com.au/) Christmas party on Friday night where wine, beer, G&Ts, pizza, cheese and guacamole were consumed in Olympic-sized proportions. Speaking of which, there was even an attempt at gymnastics fame for one tanked-up Sydney office employee as he cart-wheeled his way across the cellar door’s lawn. A score of 5.5, if you’re asking. Incriminating pics to follow soon...