Our Fathers

There was no overly large cheque, no cheesy handshake and widemouthed grin at the camera. There wasn’t even time to visit. The first charitable donation made by Our Fathers was, as is the norm nowadays, made electroncially and with little fuss.

I weighed up the options of quite how to mark the occasion and finally settled on the sober, low-key approach in the knowledge that had this been Dad, he would have wanted it that way. He was never one to steal the limelight.

But I’d like to think that he would have been proud that, though his demise was swift, the legacy that we are creating will be long-lasting.

And the legacy will not just be to those people that cared for him in his last days. While St Columbas was always going to be the first beneficiary, the coming weeks will see donations made to MIND, the mental health charity and to Cancer Research.

So, you see, that while Our Fathers was inspired by the circumstances that we faced, there is a good reason why there is no apostrophe in Fathers. Our Fathers is committed to raising funds for charities that benefit everyone – for there can be few people that do not know of anyone who has suffered from Cancer, Mental Health or Heart related issues.

I’d like to think, that in years to come, Our Fathers will be seen as an example of how wine can be a beacon for good, as well as a delicious and socially enabling drink. In the meantime, a huge thank you to everyone who has supported Our Fathers in its first year.

 

Cheers

Giles

 

 

 

 

I didn’t know Etienne well, but the untimely passing of one of the brightest characters in the wine world has been felt palpably.

3 or 4 years ago, while at Hong Kong international wine fair, I arrange to go for drinks with Lynne Sherriff MW the then head of the institute of masters of wine. It emerged that Lynne was also committed to attending an engagement party the same evening. I was encouraged to come along as the host would not mind.

The event was actually a lavish dinner at one of the best hotels in the city, attended by an international cast of those closest to the host. The host was of course Etienne Hugel and he was celebrating his engagement to Kaoru.

It was a personal occasion and he was visibly excited to be sharing the occasion with his friends. That he invited me in and treated me like one of them, said much of the man.

His star shone brightly that night and, I’m assured, every other night. I’m sorry he has gone, the wine world has lost one of the best.

Today I received a glowing review of 2014 Our Fathers Shiraz.

http://www.wineanorak.com/wineblog/syrah/our-fathers-barossa-shiraz-2014

 It is a wine conceived amidst the grief of losing my father and nurtured and brought to fruition while coming to terms with my mother’s suicide and my own ill health. That one sentence doesn’t really do justice to the horror, sadness and confusion that, as a family, we have all borne.

But next week, I head back to the big skies of Australia for the third vintage of Our Fathers. In doing so, I am reminded just how quickly time flies and also how much we must cherish what we have in the present, while learning from the past.

With every pruning scar on every vine, our forefathers have made their mark on this landscape and, in drinking Our Fathers we remember all of those who have gone before us – making the present all the more enjoyable.

Source: Forever a Dreamer

Andrew Jefford wrote a brilliant piece in Decanter this week (http://www.decanter.com/wine-news/opinion/jefford-on-monday/jefford-wine-is-also-a-dream-286343/) which really resonated with how I view wine and how Our Fathers came about.

Blind tastings amongst the public often suggest that without context, there is no clear consensus that “better” wine is preffered over cheaper, more obvious wines. Wine therefore needs its context to maximise its appeal.

The appeal of wine for many people is its ability to inspire dreams. That wine contains alcohol is a great help in this regard but as Jefford elucidates, wine has an ability “to induce reverie, to inspire aspiration or hope, and to promise (even if it finally fails to deliver) exceptional sensual gratification”

I’d go one step further and suggest that some winemakers have an ability to imagine the pleasure and appeal of a wine long before it is even made.

Though I’d hardly include myself in the echelons of the world’s great winemakers, I do think that I have an ability to see and taste both food and wine before it has been cooked or made.

The merging, synergistic power of our senses can give a surprisingly clear and accurate vision of what is still to become.

Take Our Fathers 2014 for instance. Though I’d never picked fruit from that vineyard before, nor even tasted a wine made from it, I had an innate sense that it needed to be light of frame, savoury, aromatic and pure in order to convey its best attributes. As a result, I avoided the temptation to equate old vine with power and concentration, choosing instead to pick early to retain the energy and freshness that exists even in fruit from very old vines.

Likewise, without precedent, I visualised the flavour and texture profile brought about by including the stems in the ferment, by using a certain cooper for the barrels and for the length of time in the barrels.

Its all the more gratifying therefore when the end result is eveything I visualised. Considering the nightmare that gave rise to Our Fathers, its comforting that now a dream has been realised.