According to Martin Heidegger, philosophy asks the fundamental question of life: “Why is there something rather than nothing?” Fundamental, in the sense, it is unanswerable? Apart from, “It is, because it is.”
Rather than fill this Newsletter with philosophical meanderings, and to narrow the field of vision, the relevant question in the context of this Newsletter is “why does Blackjack Vineyard exist?”
As we approach the 31st vintage release, with the obvious benefit of hindsight and hopefully some accumulated wisdom, it may be of interest to some, not least the two weather worn vignerons -one of whom at this very moment out pruning the vines-to reflect on the beginning, the origin story of Blackjack Vineyards.
In the beginning there were two relatively young men (not young and not old), who happened to be neighbours in the city of Bendigo. Discovering over many glasses of wine they both haboured an (mad) underlying desire to plant a vineyard and make wine. These inchoate yearnings happened to coincide with Roseworthy College of Agriculture in South Australia offering a one-year Graduate Diploma of Wine Course running alongside the undergraduate Wine Course.
In hindsight, the impulsive decision to enroll in the Roseworthy Graduate Wine Course was the defining moment that was to lead to Blackjack Vineyards. It was the symbolic cutting of the “dreamtime” tape, where the dream becomes lived experience. It gave us enough knowledge to ‘know when we didn’t know what we were talking about,’ and the wine network to find out what we didn’t know. So, 1984, in effect, was the beginning of history for Blackjack Vineyards.
Fast forward to 1987, and after 18 months searching for a suitable Vineyard site between Bendigo and Kyneton, a chance conversation led to us looking at the site that was to become Blackjack Vineyards. Chance in the sense the property was never listed with any Real Estate Agents, just word of mouth; the stars aligned. The purchase of the property was the definitive cutting of the “dreamtime” umbilical cord. There was no turning back.
In 1988, the year of our first planting, there were 527 wineries operating in Australia. In 2024 there are 2156 wineries. In the intervening years there have been highs and lows. The wine industry is like the proverbial Titanic; It takes a long time to manoeuvre, but unlike the Titanic it will not sink, just adapt to the changing times, not without some pain. It will survive because wine is, in the words of Galileo, “Sunlight held together by Water.” And who wouldn’t want to drink that combination? Even Noah, according to Genesis 9.20. planted a vineyard after the flood and went on to live another 350 years- planting vineyards require a long-term vision!
THE 2023 VINTAGE
Many will remember the drought breaking rains of 2010/2011 which almost overnight filled the near dry dams and catchment lakes-Lake Eppalock at Bendigo appeared to reach capacity overnight.
For a vigneron, it is indelibly etched into memory as bogged tractors and grape disease-it’s called Vigneron PTSD. Many vineyards did not produce a crop in 2011.At Blackjack we managed to produce one wine, which we are, considering its difficult birth, very proud of.
You may be wondering what this has to do with the new release.
Well, the well above average rainfall for the months of October (200mm) and November(100mm) in 2022 tracked the corresponding months of the 2011 Vintage and there was, at the time an understandable apocalyptic concern it was going to be a repeat of the 2011 vintage.
Fortunately, it didn’t happen, and the next months of the 2023 vintage, apart from some significant rain(77mm) in early to mid-April, it was cool and quite dry from January to May. In fact, beautiful slow ripening conditions. The 2023 vintage didn’t start until 26th April, making it possibly the latest vintage since the 2000 vintage, where, the last Cabernet grapes were picked on the 3rd June-easy picking as there were no leaves on the vines, just grape bunches.
The 2023 vintage could also be unflatteringly called the “snail invasion” vintage. We had a plague of snails, due to the very wet October 2022 and relatively cool conditions which ate the tender slow growing shots as they appeared. It was all “crushing” hands on deck!
And our overall assessment of the 2023 Vintage. Predictably, the long cooler ripening period has produced finely textured and elegant wines-more red fruits, mixed spice finer and softer tannins, and balance. It was reminiscent of the 2000 Vintage which prompted a cellar raid for a couple of old bottles of the 2000 vintage to see what 23 years in the cellar might produce. Making allowances for the cellar bias, the 2000 wines, in our humble opinion, have aged (like the two vignerons) beautifully into mature, rounded complex wines.
ACCOLADES.
We were chuffed at the 2019 Blackjack Mr Ramoy sneaking into the James Suckling Top 100 Australian wines for 2024. For those not aware, James Suckling et al is the highly respected global American Wine Critic. Top 100 Wines of Australia 2024 - JamesSuckling.com | JamesSuckling.com
Not to be outdone by its older sibling the 2022 Blackjack Mr Ramoy pulled a 95 score from Jeni Port of The James Halliday Wine Companion describing it as, “So seductive; Mr Ramoy lifts the great Aussie shiraz cabernet blend out of the ordinary and everyday.”
