|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
Cuttings - Chris Pfeiffer - February 2014By Chris Pfeiffer
Happy New Year. Let’s hope that it is kind to us all and we make some lovely wines.
As mentioned in the last Carlyle Cuttings, 2014 is a significant year for Pfeiffer Wines as it represents 30 years since Robyn and I attended that auction that saw the birth of Pfeiffer Wines. A lot has happened in that time and the potential of our winery / distillery continues to reveal itself. We are fortunate to have such an attractive site and we have both enjoyed coaxing it back to life. We are looking forward to the next thirty years when we can sit down with a glass of delicious wine and enjoy it even more than we have in the past thirty years.
1984 was our first year when we planned and worked towards opening our cellar door in 1985. We were lucky that we had a producing vineyard that enabled us to commence making wine straight away and get that elusive cash flow going. Our vineyard comprised of Chardonnay (much in demand at the time), our historic Pinot Noir, the scarce Gamay and our wonderful but small Portuguese varietal collection. We opened our cellar door in May 1985, having pleaded poverty at the liquor licence application, with just four wines: Riesling (naturally), White Burgundy, Shiraz-Cabernet and Tawny Port. Two of these wines no longer are able to be described as White Burgundy or Tawny Port, how things have changed. We now offer thirty six different wines (two sparkling, twenty one table and thirteen fortified wines), which if nothing else keeps Jen and I on our toes. Our original intent was to offer a great cellar door providing a wonderful experience as our sole method of distribution. Today we sell our wines in nine different countries (though in Canada and the US, each province or state is like a separate country, so it feels like it is more than just nine countries).
It has been an exciting and enjoyable journey, made by the people who have come to share our wine over the years. Many of you have come into our lives, watching the children develop and seeing them participate in our business. It has been such a rewarding experience for our family, with many friendships formed. It is a joy to come and share some time with you on your visits to our winery.
You, our Wine Club members are a critical part of our way forward. You support us through your regular purchases and allow us to make new wines that you can provide feedback upon. This is so important to our winery development and helps keep us across the trends within the market. It also challenges our whole team to keep delivering that quality experience, whether that be the wine itself or the service we provide. An example in our current pack is one such new wine, the 2012 Pfeiffer Marsanne Viognier, a new blend for Pfeiffer Wines.
In 2014 our Pfeiffer Wines functions will focus on our thirty year theme. We nervously purchased the property on the 26th April 1984 and this anniversary could not go unrecognised, so we are having a commemorative night on the 26th April 2014. Certainly on the 26th April 1984 we would still have been on our euphoric high. It will be a fun year full of memories for our extended family and we hope that you can join us on one of the occasions to help share those memories.
In the meantime, please enjoy our first Wine Club pack for the year. As always it has a lovely cross section of our wines, including a Riesling, recognising one of the first wines that we sold. Our 12 bottle members will receive some of our very limited 2012 reds. We value your assessment of the vintage, which we think is pretty good!
Jen and I love making wines to share with friends; they are so much more enjoyable shared. We both can’t wait to continue making and sharing our wines over the next thirty plus years.
In vino veritas, Chris Pfeiffer
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|||
