ANDREW & HEATHER PATTISON’S

WINEANDMUSIC NEWS NEWS FROM BURKE & WILLS WINERY in Victoria’s Heathcote wine region.

JANUARY 2021

2021 DIARY DATESJanuary 23rd & 24th

Eric Bogle in concert with Peter Titchener & Emma Luker

plus Michael Waugh & Jacob McGuffie (Sat),

Dean & Carruthers (Sun) Sunday February 14th

The Verandah Folk Clubfeaturing Margret RoadKnight

and Kenny WhiteMarch 5th - 8th

The Burke & Wills Folk Festivalwith Glenn Cardier, Judy Small,

We Mavericks, Dingo’s Breakfast, Jo Jo Smith, Natalie d-Napoleon,

The Humbucking Pickups, Bruce Watson. The 4 Peace Band Dave O’Neill, Awkward Giraffe

Comedy Breakfasts, & more!Easter Sunday April 4thThe Verandah Folk Club

featuring Rich Davies launching his new CD ‘Born In Nebraska’

(songs of Bruce Springsteen)and lots more!

We present music half a dozen times a year in 3 different formats, all very relaxed and informal, but for a listening audience, not background music! ... 1) Marquee concerts, with allocated seating and a 2 or 3 course meal, 2) Verandah Specials, even more informal, semi outdoors under a verandah and shade with a simpler 2 course barbecue, and 3) The Verandah Folk Club - an occasional folk club format with both booked performers and open stage where anyone can sing 2 or 3 songs .. usually a couple of times between Christmas and Easter, Also the annual Burke & Wills Folk Festival in March, in the marquee, and the November Verandah Mini-Festival under the verandah and shade.

BOOKINGS, INFORMATION for all Burke & Wills events:ph: (03) 5425 5400 or email:

wineandmusic@bigpond.comUpdates and more info at:.

www.wineandmusic.netBurke & Wills Winery

89 Coombe’s Lane, Mia Mia, 3444 - 101 kms NW of Melbourne on the

Burke & Wills Track (Lancefield to Mia Mia road - yes, it’s bitumen), 31 kms NW of Lancefield, 7 kms. south of Mia Mia.

SUBSCRIBE / UNSUBSCRIBEWe post or email this newsletter once or twice a year to our club members. If you do not want to receive it, or if you have found it elsewhere and would like to be on the mail list, please

contact us, via phone or email above.It is also available on our websitewww.wineandmusic.net

Three trophies confirm The Aristocrat’s nobility!Our much cherished Bordeaux blend has just won three trophies at November’s Saint Martin

Heathcote Wine Show - The Wrights Transport Trophy for Best Cabernet, The Connally’s Real Estate Trophy for Best Other (than Shiraz) Wine, and The Interpack Trophy for Best Heathcote Grown and Produced Wine.

This win brings me much gratification after thirty one years of chasing a great Cabernet family wine. I’ve been making Cab. Merlot since 1989, and when I go into a bottle shop I go straight to the Cabernet section, and when I look at a restaurant wine list I go straight to the Cabernet section. These wines are far and away my favourites, despite me living in a region famous for Shiraz.

Best Cabernet is a bit of a misnomer for the 2018 The Aristocrat; it should really be Best Cabernet Family wine. This is the first of my Cabernet family wines (my Cabernet Merlots) that has less Cabernet than any other variety. It is approx. 31% Merlot, 30% Petit Verdot, 29% Malbec and just 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. That is because that is what the vineyard gave us in 2018. And that is not too unusual a Bordeaux blend. Bordeaux is famous as the great Cabernet region of France, but in fact there is a lot more Merlot grown there than Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc.

And why the name ‘The Aristocrat’? The French call the grape varieties that make the greatest wines the Noble Grapes. And in Bordeaux Cab. Sauv., Cab. Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Carmenere are all called Noble grapes. So a wine that has this much nobility must be an Aristocrat!

We haven’t released the wine yet, although it is available if you are keen to try it. $45 a bottle, $500 a dozen. It will be officially released and available to the wine trade after the 2015 version is sold out. That too is a great wine, has won two silver medals, and is great value at $32 a bottle. We didn’t make The Aristocrat in 2016 and 2017, putting the grapes into our Planters Blend instead. Both the 2016 Planters Blend and the 2015 Vat 2 Shiraz rated 94 points in the latest Halliday Wine Companion.

Easter Sunday April 4th -The Verandah Folk Club featuring the music of RICH DAVIES and BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN.

Rich Davies is one of the most prominent singer songwriters in Melbourne, and he was born into the trade, being the son of a Scottish folk singer who spent many days travelling the road with his dad. He is also a huge Bruce Springsteen fan and spent the 2020 lockdown recording his Sprinsteen tribute album Born In Nebaska which sees all the great songs from Born In The USA stripped down to a solo acoustic form, like Bruce’s Nebraska album. This will be the official launch of the album. Rick will be joined by Craig Kelly on bass, and being a folk club day there is an open stage for anybody to play a few songs. Just $20 for the show, plus $25 for an optional 2 course. lunch from 12.30. Music from 1.30. BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL due to Covidrules.

Booking details for the Burke & Wills Winery events:ph 5425 5400, or email wineandmusic@bigpond.com

Late Lunch & Show (1.30 - 2.30) $45, Show Only (3.00) $20.Saturday January 23rd .... a verandah special ...

ERIC BOGLE in concert with Peter Titchener and Emma Luker, plus an opening set from Michael Waugh and Jacob McGuffie.

Show starts 3.30 pm, with dinner after around 6.30 pm. Dinner & Show $75, Show Only $45.

Sunday January 24thERIC BOGLE in concert with Peter Titchener and Emma Luker,

plus an opening set from Dean & Carruthers.Show starts 11.30 am, lunch at 12.30, more music from 2.00 - 5.00

Lunch & Show $75, Show Only $45.Sunday February 14th ... The Verandah Folk Club

featuring MARGRET ROADKNIGHT and KENNY WHITE,plus open stage for anyone wanting to perform two or three songs

Lunch & Show (12.30) $45, Show Only (1.30) $20.Friday - Monday March 5th to 8th ...

THE BURKE & WILLS FOLK FESTIVALWeekend tickets $145, Day tickets $60. Full details above.

Easter Sunday April 4th ... The Verandah Folk Clubfeaturing RICH DAVIES with CRAIG KELLY

lauching Rich’s new album Born in Nebraska, a solo acoustic reworking of the songs from Springsteen’s classic

Born In The USA album. Also a set of Rich Davies originals, and Open Stage for anybody wanting to sing two or three songs.

Lunch & Show (12.30) $45, Show Only (1.30) $20.

March 5th to 8th (5pm Friday - 11pm Monday)

The Burke & Wills Folk FestivalProbably the smallest and most intimate music

festival in Australia, more like a four day concert and garden party, with just one stage, an audience of around 150 people, all keen listeners, lots of food, wines at cellar door prices, and free camping / caravanning, with decent showers and toilets. And musicians, including

BRUCE WATSON DAVE O’NEILL GLENN CARDIERDINGO’S BREAKFAST THE 4 PEACE BAND

THE HUMBUCKING PICKUPS JO JO SMITH JUDY SMALL NATALIE d-NAPOLEAN

PETER ANDERSON WE MAVERICKS and more!The programme and info about the performers

will be on our website www.wineandmusic.net by the end of January.

For those who haven’t been to this event, as stated above it is more like a four day house concert and garden party than a festival, there is a very dedicated listening crowd of around a hundred and fifty, just one marquee stage, and a programme that has a leisurely pace with lengthy breaks at lunch and dinner time. Perhaps you could call it a Club, as ninety per cent or more of the crowd comes every year, and we like to keep it that way, as a very special audience has evolved and cherishes the intimate listening environment, which, of course, brings out the best in the performers. To maintain this special atmosphere we limit bookings to people who have been before and/or people who have been recommended by people who have been before .... sort of ‘by invitation’. This way we avoid the disruption that could be caused if a busload of football fans turned up looking for a party. We have new and old familiar faces amongst the performers this year, and we are especially delighted to be hosting the first performance by Judy Small since retiring from the stage when she became a judge a decade or so ago. Now she has retired from judging and it took very little to persuade her to pick up the guitar again. A newcomer to us is Fremantle’s Natalie d-Napolean, a singer songwriter who has spent twenty years in the USA, performing with her own trio which included Linda Ronstadt’s musician Kenny Edwards. Natalie has just recorded a new album which will be launched here at Burke & Wills. Also a new/old face is The 4 Peace Band, featuring the Australian musician I have known the longest, Paul O’Gorman. And comedy to start every morning, brought to us by Awkward Giraffe, hosted by Kieran Butler and featuring a different celebrity comedian each day.

We have breakfast, lunch and dinner available at very reasonable prices, plus various snacks at all other times of day, and you are also welcome to self cater in the camping area. And yes, we do have beer and cider as well as wines.

Coming soon, to a screen near you ...TROUBADOUR TUNES

Well, it’s already here actually, and you can watch on your computer, tablet or TV screens.

Troubadour Tunes is an initiative of singer songwriter, comedian and videographer Kieran Butler, of Whimsical Tricycle fame, with a bit of help from me, and it came about when stages 1 and 2 of Covid Lockdown hit us. At that time we were still relatively free to move around but the entertainment industry was totally closed and musicians were instantly out of work. So we decided to video some concerts and interviews, put them to air on Youtube and attempt to raise a bit of money for the musicians by asking viewers to donate.

The first programme featured Greg Champion and Khristian Mizzi, the second brought country band Jetty Road and an interview with Chris Smither in the USA, and the third was with Michael Waugh and Jacob McGuffie. But soon after that was recorded Melbourne was in Stage 4 Lockdown, so we couldn’t even get together with musicians to record. So we took to Zoom and came up with Troubadour Sports and talked cricket with veterans of the 1977 Centenary Test Derek Randall and Gary Cosier. And as they both play guitar we asked them to nominate a couple of favourite songs and then we asked Gina Jeffreys and Rod McCormack, Tommy Leonard, Khristian Mizzi and Peter Daffy to send us videos of themselves performing the songs.

All of the above mentioned shows are available now on Youtube. You can find them either by going to www.troubadourtunes.online or by going to Youtube and searching for Troubadour Tunes.

Future episodes include an interview with England based African American comedian Reginald D Hunter, music and a chat with Mandy Connell, and soon Lloyd Spiegel, Albert Lee.

Well Hello! Andrew & Heather said I should start by introducing myself….. BUT I know that most of you have been hanging around out here at the winery at some stage in the last few years and so couldn’t have failed to to notice ME (the good looking one) in the paddock. Some of you have even had the privilege of presenting me with a carrot.. (a tradition of Clomp’s, the continuation of which I am fully encouraging …!)I DID notice that there were a few months

this year where I was stuck with only Andrew & Heather (and the 4 footed boys, ho hum ….) for quite a while…. But Heather did make it up to me towards the end, by taking me away with her for a whole four weeks and I got to play with another LOVEEEELY person AND I even trained her to get on my back and take me out on interesting rides…… and then I got her to convince Heather to try the same thing! And now life is far more interesting!Meanwhile, back at the winery….. I heard

that Andrew brought home another 3 big glass things, courtesy of this years Heathcote Wine Show, and now the Cabernet type vines are getting lots of love and attention…. much like the shiraz vines did a few years ago…. mmmm ? Wonder what would happen if I win a trophy …. or two … (or 3 …. or 4 … ok, maybe not just yet, these vines are setting the bar pretty high…)It is so gooooood that you can all come and

visit again!! (editor said not to mention the carrots again …..) and it sounds like you are all itching to get here, the first “After Lockdown”, concert a couple of weeks ago was great fun so we are all gearing up towards a great start to 2021, Thanks so much for everything that everyone did to help keep us safe…Cheers, Angel.

PS My first column!! How did I do? Do I have a litery career …..?

(Editor’s note: not with that spelling.)

Angel’s Column

Eric Bogle 1980, National Folk Festival, Alice Springs

January 23rd & 24th .....ERIC BOGLE with Peter Titchener

and Emma Luker.These two days of concerts were origi-nally scheduled for last November, but had to be postponed because of Covid 19 and the closure of the South Aus-tralian border. But now we look good to go ahead, unless Covid does a back-flip. It is always a very special event when Eric plays here, and having had very little opportunity to play for nine months I know he is really looking forward to this weekend. It will be outdoors on our Verandah stage but nevertheless numbers are limited due to social distancing requirements. So don’t delay if you want to book, we only have about 30 seats left each day. And not only do we have Eric & Co., Saturday kicks off at 3.30 with Michael Waugh and Jacob McGuffie and Sunday starts at 11.30 with Dean & Carruthers.

Sunday February 14th .... The Verandah Folk Club with MARGRET ROADKNIGHT and KENNY WHITE

Once again, one of our Folk Club days with both featured performers and floor spots for anybody wanting to sing two or three songs. It’s a great value for money day, just $20 for the afternoon of music and an optional $25 two course lunch.

Margret is a household name in Australia and has been performing for sixty years. She crosses all the boundaries of folk, blues and jazz, has travelled the world, and met most of her heroes, including Pete Seeger and Nina Simone. Her longtime friend Ken White is a blues and folk singer and player who goes back to the early days of the legendary Traynor’s venue in Melbourne, as too does Margret, so it will be great to see these two old friends playing both solo and together on a day that will be filled with memories of some of the best that Melbourne’s folk scene has had to offer for over half a century. Lunch at 12.30, music from 1.30, bookings essential.

The Troubadour FoundationThe Troubadour Foundation is a charity that was set up about ten years ago to

encourage and support the folk arts in Australia.Its initial funding came from two professional people who loved folk festivals

and wanted to give something back to the folk scene. Since then the Foundation relies totally on donations (fully tax deductible) and money raised from sales of a collection of CDs it has produced, mostly a series called ‘Festival Folk Sing .... “. This series features a top songwriter for each CD, with a collection of their songs performed by a bunch of notables from the folk festival world, mostly Australians but also including some great overseas performers, such as Mary Black, James Keelaghan, Vin Garbutt and Peggy Seeger.

Titles released so far are Festival Folk Sing Joni Mitchell, then Eric Bogle, Bob Dylan (double CD), Judy Small, Dark Side Of The Moon, Gordon Lightfoot, and latterly Country Folk Sing Mickey Newbury. The Foundation has also released live concert recordings of the late Alistair Hulett and Vin Garbutt’s last ever concert in Australia, at the 2016 Burke & Wills Folk Festival. Money raised by the foundation has helped many folk musicians ... with CD production, medical and dental problems, replacing instruments and CDs lost to burglaries and fires, with overseas travel, and many other things. You can find out more, and/or make a donation, by going to www.thetroubadourfoundation.com .

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31 kms N

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on the borders of the Heathcote

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101 kms. from

central Melbourne.

Ph (03) 5425 5400

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Burke & Wills Winery was established in the southern end of the Heathcote wine region in 2004, as a follow on from our previous Lancefield Winery in the neighbouring Macedon Ranges region. We still process fruit from both regions.The winery was selected as one of the ‘Ten

Dark Horses’ of the Australian wine industry in the 2012 James Halliday Wine Companion, and in 2017 won The Premier’s Trophy for Best Victorian Wine (2015 Vat 1 Shiraz).We produce a wide range of boutique wines

in small quantities, under three labels, Burke & Wills for one hundred per cent Heathcote wines, Dig Tree for very affordable local wines especially designed for wine bars and bistros, and the Pattison family reserve label which is kept for special releases of unique wines. The cellar door is always open on concert days at the winery, and visits are welcome at any other time, but phone first on 5425 5400 to make sure someone is home.CURRENT GENERAL RELEASE WINES ...

Dig Tree Pinot Gris 2020 - North East Victoria fruit, crisp mouth-filling fresh nashi pear flavours. $20 /$220Dig Tree Heathcote Viognier 2013 - late-picked spatlese vintage with natural sweetness. $18 / $195Dig Tree 2015 Merlot - grown at Redesdale, south of Heathcote, rich soft style. Very popular! $20 / $220Burke & Wills 2014 Vat 2 Heathcote Shiraz - big, ripe rich Shiraz from our Redesdale vineyard and matured in American oak. Juicy black cherry / berry fruits. Very typical Heathcote Shiraz $28 / $300Burke & Wills ‘Camp 5’ 2014 Shiraz Cab. Merlot -smooth yet firm fruit driven blend from our area at the southern, cooler end of the Heathcote region. 40% Shiraz with the Cab Franc, Cab Sauv. & Merlot plus small amounts of Petit Verdot and Malbec adding sweet fruit to the middle palate. Drinking extremely well now and a real bargain at this price. $20 / $220Mr Burke’s Favourite Big Red 2017 - A big but easy drinking Heathcote Shiraz (15% + alc.) jam-packed with sweet fruity grape flavours and the appealing aromas of toasty new American and French oak. The follow on to the incredibly popular 2015 version. Selected by Mr Burke (Clomp). $20 / $200!Limited Release / Specialist WinesPattison Family Reserve ‘Macedon’ ... classy methode Champenoise Pinot/Chardonnay $30 / $350

Burke & Wills 2015 Sparkling Shiraz .... luscious and far too easy to drink! $28 / $300Burke & Wills 2020 Gewurztraminer .. floral, spicey and fruity with a crisp dry finish. $28 / $300Pattison Family Reserve 2020 Chardonnay - grown in the lower Goulburn Valley, matured in French oak, sunshine in a bottle! $25/ $275Burke & Wills 2016 Vat 1 Heathcote Shiraz - seventh Shiraz release from our cool climate home vineyard; spicey bright red fruit flavours embellished by fragrant French oak. Silver medal at the 2018 Heathcote Wine Show, and awarded ‘Best Shiraz’ at the 2018 Heathcote Wine & Food Festival by The Heathcote Wine Appreciation Group. $36 / $395 Burke & Wills 2015 ‘The Aristocrat’ Heathcote Cabernet Merlot - classic Bordeaux style blend of Cab. Sauv., Merlot, Cab. Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec, matured in French oak barrels. Silver medal at the 2018 Heathcote Wine Show. $32 / $350

For more comprehensive tasting notes visit our website - www.wineandmusic.net .

WINE ORDERS: phone (03) 5425 5400, email: wineandmusic@bigpond.com Payment by cheque, Visa, Mastercard or direct debit can follow later.

AVOID CORONA VIRUS RISK! WE CAN DELIVER TO YOUR DOOR. NO DELIVERY CHARGE for cases to

Melbourne / Macedon Ranges / Bendigo. $15 per case country Victoria, $15 - $45+

other destinations.CELLAR DOOR SALES any time we are home ...phone 5425 5400. And if you come at lunch time and give us a day’s notice you may enjoy the full Cellar Door Experience with a light lunch on us.

winner of the 2017 Prem

ier’s Trophyfor Best V

ictorian Wine

Even horses need masks ...

Come and help us pick grapes!We always need a hand with the harvest -

well, about twenty four hands in fact.We can’t tell you exactly when we will be

picking until a couple of days before. The Gewurztraminer is likely to be ready either very late in February or early March, with our luck right in the middle of the folk festi-val! The reds could be anywhere from early March to late April, but most of it is likely to be mid-March.

It is relatively easy work, you can even do it sitting down, and we take breaks for morn-ing and afternoon tea, and lunch. Often it is less than half a day’s work, and it is quite social. If you don’t think you are up to pick-ing we can always use a hand organising the morning and afternoon tea and lunch. If it’s an all day pick we invite you to stay on for dinner, and we might even arrange a bit of music. So please let us know if you are inter-ested and we’ll put you on the list and give you a call as the ripeness draws near.