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What wine would you buy?
From Qantas Inflight Magazine, January 2016By Tal Thorne, Restaurant and bar manager, Monster Kitchen and Bar, Hotel Hotel, ACT.
You’ve got $20 to spend. What wine would you buy? The 2013 Half Moon Rosé from Braidwood. It’s a well- balanced, beautiful rosé made with shiraz grapes.
Original articleHalf Moon strikes gold again
From Braidwood Times, October 17 2014At the recent Canberra District Wine Show, the Half Moon 2011 Riesling scored top Gold in the 2013 and older Riesling wine Class, a Bronze for the 2013 Riesling and Bronze for the Eclipse late harvest Pinot Gris, Riesling blend.
Half Moon Riesling is slow in developing in the bottle so continue to get better as they age.
Vineyard Manager Mal Sharpe says “There was no vintage last year owing to the late frosts where we usually get 2 to 3 late frosts we had 23 below zero events last year and the frost protection could not cope with that.
“This year is shaping up much the same with early bud burst and 2 small frosts on the 2nd and 3rd of this month with no damage, but it will be the later ones in the month that will take the toll so fingers crossed.”
“After the frosts this year we started using Phi`on Biological and Mineral soil conditioners and also installed one of their Water Conditioners. The vines recovered well and it was the best I have seen the canopy. Both Rob Gourlay from Phi`on and I were very impressed with the results. The vines came out of the winter looking good with strong canes to lay down for this season.”
“Half Moon Wines will continue using Phi`on Biological soil conditioners as we push towards more natural methods of growing grapes” said Mal.
Original articleHarvest time at Half Moon
From Braidwood Times, April 4 2013The crew at Half Moon Vineyard at Mongarlowe have been picking with an added sense of anticipation since taking out the top gong for its 2010 Riesling at the Canberra Region Wine Show last year among other accolades. Managers Mal and Jenny Sharp are quietly confident of the grape quality again this year. A small team will pick each of the varieties including Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Riesling over several weeks. The last variety to pick will be the Shiraz as they wait for the sugar levels to come up, while watching keenly for signs of frost.
In its first production year for Sauvignon Blanc, the boutique winery expects that just 500 bottles will be available. The 2011 Riesling is now available locally.
Original articleA little valley somewhere
From Canberra Times, October 24 2012From a little valley near Braidwood comes the outsider that blitzed this year’s Canberra Regional Wine Show. Half Moon Riesling 2010 won the best riesling trophy, beating some of our hottest local riesling makers, including Helm, Clonakilla, Four Winds, Ravensworth, Gallagher and Nick O’Leary.
Half Moon then secured the best white trophy, then won a taste off with the best red – Hungerford Hill Hh Tumbarumba Classic Shiraz 2010 – to become champion wine of the show. It was the first riesling in the top spot since Helm Premium 2008 shared the honours with Eden Road the Long Road Hilltops Shiraz in 2009.
The tiny vineyard – near Mongarlowe, about 16 kilometres from Braidwood – belongs to Sydneysiders Tony and Robyn Maxwell.
Manager Malcolm Sharp says the wine bug bit Tony Maxwell in the 1990s when he established a vineyard at Rylstone, near Mudgee.
With Rod James, he planted vines at Nullo Mountain, a challenging site in the Mudgee region – but, at 1100 metres, totally different viticulturally. While the pair pulled out many of the vines during the industry downturn early last decade, the wine bug remained with Maxwell.
He asked Sharp, a long-term friend, whether he would look after a vineyard if he planted one on his weekend block at Mongarlowe. What Maxwell had in mind, Sharp says, was a very small vineyard he could enjoy, with the aim of making good wine.
Sharp says he knew nothing about vineyards, but accepted the task and planted 200 vines each of riesling and chardonnay in 2000. While Maxwell and Sharp were aware that some people regarded the frost-prone site as an unlikely place to grow grapes, the first vines reached the cordon – the wire on the trellis – in the first year, the fast growth suggesting they could be on to something.
But a subsequent planting of merlot failed and a run of heavy frosts in October 2006 destroyed 500 vines, including a block of pinot noir. Tempranillo took off well, but as the stock they planted carried a virus, Sharp dug them out and planted more riesling, a consistent performer.
The vineyard now includes shiraz, viognier, pinot gris, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and riesling.
Early on, Maxwell introduced Sharp to well-known viticulturist David Botting (who had consulted on the Nullo Mountain vineyard). And Botting, impressed by the vineyard, came on board as a consultant.
At the time the grapes were being trucked to David Lowe’s winery at Mudgee, a legacy of the Nullo Mountain venture. But Botting suggested making the wines closer to the vineyard. The whites in particular, he recommended, needed quick processing. He arranged a meeting on site between Maxwell and Sharp and Murrumbateman winemaker, Alex McKay. McKay took over the winemaking from 2008.
McKay describes the Half Moon site as a bit cooler than Canberra, with double the rainfall (on well-drained soil), and more humidity – good for the retention of grape flavour.
He says, ”management is first class with a level of attention and hand work you’d be more likely to see in Europe than around here.”
Sharp confirms he and his wife Jenny do most of the work by hand, with a little spraying from a quad bike on one flatter section. On the steep sections, for example, Jenny reels the spray hose out to him from a utility parked at the top as he descends and sprays on foot; then reels him in like a lifesaver as he struggles back up the slope.
To date, McKay says, riesling shows the most consistency and potential. It starts with ”enormous levels of acid”, so as a young wine it’s difficult to see the fruit quality lurking under the acidity. But it’s there, as the trophy-winning 2010 demonstrates, having fleshed out notably in the two years since bottling.
That high acidity, Sharp reasons, comes from the very cool site. The vineyard, at about 630 metres, is flanked by higher ground, with the coastal escarpment immediately to the east. The days tend to be warm to hot, but cold air pools there in the evening, with overnight temperatures of just 4 degrees and 5 degrees common during the growing season.
McKay rates the chardonnay as very good, too, and similar in style to wines from Tumbarumba. But production of just one barrel a year provides little scope to explore the style.
He’s optimistic about shiraz, even though it’s difficult and harvested from the individually staked bush vines ”at the dusk of vintage”. He adds, ”We can’t say as emphatically it’s as suited as riesling.”
While the trophy-winning riesling sold out quickly, the 2011 (a very good wine needing time, McKay says) has been released. It and the other Half Moon wines are available at Plonk at the Fyshwick Markets, and at Local Liquor and Boutique Wines on Wallace in Braidwood.
This is a producer to watch, though production will remain small, with no plans to expand the vineyard, according to Malcolm Sharp.
Original articleHalf Moon – Top Wine
From Canberra Times, September 19 2012The tiny Half Moon Wines near Braidwood took out the top gong at the Canberra Regional Wine Show last week, winning champion wine for its 2010 riesling.
The wines at Half Moon are made by Alex McKay, who also won gold for his own Collector Reserve Shiraz 2006 made in Murrumbateman (although bronze for the 2011 vintage of the same wine).
Half Moon makes wine with minimal mechanisation and chemical use and in small batches. On its website, it only offers one 2011 wine, a riesling, with no wines available from the 2012 vintage. Chairman of judges Ben Edwards says the judges were taken by surprise to discover their top wine was from Braidwood. Made by a very good winemaker, the riesling has great tension, purity, slatey minerality and the pure, precise fruit that is characteristic of the region, he says.
Half Moon’s win is the first time in many years the trophy for champion wine at the Canberra show has not gone to a shiraz – other than in 2009, when it was awarded jointly, to a shiraz and Ken Helm’s riesling.
The difficulties of the 2011 vintage, when Canberra winemakers were hit hard by rain and resulting disease, are reflected in the show results, where most of the top wines were from further afield. Numbers were also down, with 188 entries, compared with 266 last year.
Hungerford Hill won the trophy for best red and best shiraz. Hungerford is a Hunter Valley maker but the grapes for its winning shiraz were grown at Tumbarumba, well south of Canberra. Best chardonnay also went to a Tumbarumba wine – won by Barwang Estate’s 2010 842. Barwang is owned by McWilliams.
The Canberra show is the only one in which the region’s most famous winemaker, Clonakilla, enters wines. Tim Kirk enters as a show of support, although he keeps his flagship wines out. His 2011 viognier won gold, along with his 2012 riesling, not long in the bottle. This was one of three golds among the 2012 rieslings in the show, with the judges commenting on ”the lack of generosity, the greenness and high levels of acidity” in the class more widely. Edwards says Clonakilla’s O’Riada Shiraz was the unlucky one, with debate among judges about whether it should win gold.
Nick Spencer at Eden Road had stand-out success with his shiraz, winning gold across the board with four different shirazes, made from grapes grown at Murrumbateman, Gundagai and the Hilltops, and Edwards says Spencer’s success demonstrates what judges are looking for – freshness, well-balanced oak and not too much ”intrusive” winemaking.
Asked about the limited success of wines from Canberra, he said it had been a tough three years after a top vintage in 2009. But the best winemakers had made some lovely wines that relied more on purity and elegance than power.
Original articleHalf Moon – Giant Killer
From Braidwood TimesBraidwood’s very own Half Moon 2010 Riesling took out a few gongs at the Canberra Wine show on September 13th, there was a packed function room full of somewhat surprised guests; none more so than Half Moon Estate manager Mal Sharp.
The day before the show, Mal took a call from one of the organisers who wanted to confirm that he’d be attending. The ever dedicated Mal and wife Jenny were expecting frost, so he suggested that he might otherwise be engaged. The gentleman on the other end of the line emphasised that it would be “good if you could attend!” Mal got a slight inkling that Half Moon might end up with a bronze medal pinned to its viticultural chest, so when the weather forecast for the evening changed radically, Mal and Jenny were Canberra bound.
The medal prediction turned out to be right, but not spot on. It was the 2010 Shiraz that took out a bronze, but the masterpiece 2010 Riesling remained undecorated. Perplexed, but not disappointed, the Sharps sat back to enjoy being part of the elite winemaking community’s night of the year. Feeling like industry rookies having managed Half Moon for a just handful of vintages, if was with gobsmacking astonishment that they heard it announced that their much cherished baby had taken out the trophy for “Best Riesling!” In the company of Riesling making legends such as Ken Helm and Tim Kirk from Clonakilla, Half Moon’s 4 acres had borne a true masterpiece! When it went on to take out “Best Dry White” the room was abuzz with chatter, most likely along the lines of “who are these upstarts?” When the Half Moon 2010 Riesling was awarded “Best Wine of Show,” it was apparent that there was a giant killer in the room!
Half Moon was planted on a shaly slope flanked by an untouched nature reserve back in 2000. The irrepressible team of Mal and Jenny Sharp were approached by their neighbours Tony and Robyn Maxwell about putting a small area under vines. Mal who will turn his very capable hand to anything that requires dexterity, read a few books, took some expert advice and set about placing trellises and planting vines. Within a year the vines were well onto the cordon wire. When Tony decided that they should plant more vines in 2001, Mal suggested that they’d better get on with it as at the age of 56, he was concerned that he’d be too old to enjoy the wines by the time the corks were ready to pop! By 2005 Half Moon enjoyed its first modest vintage still in time for Mal to enjoy a glass, prior to incarceration in a alcohol free, maximum security twilight home.
With the expert guidance of consultant David Botting the vineyard was expanded to 5500 vines which by 2006 included Shiraz, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and of course Riesling. Some of the world’s finest wines come from climatically marginal regions; Burgundy being such an example. Half Moon is certainly situated in a very marginal zone and the loss of nearly the entire 2007 vintage to frost during the Summer, brought the realities of marginal viticulture home, the hard way. Following the installation of frost alarms and spray heads to protect the vines in 2009, the Half Moon team of David, Tony, Mal and Jenny had got the viticulture right. When much celebrated winemaker Alex McKay joined the team for the 2010 vintage, Half Moon was well and truly set to bask vinous glory.
Following the major accolades at the 2012 Canberra Wine Show, the remaining stock of the 2010 Riesling has been held for “museum release” at an undisclosed date some years down the track. The previous recommended retail price of $18 will reflect what a bargain the wine formerly was when compared to its price when sold as a much prized, very limited release, bottle aged wine. The good news for bargain hunters is that the 2011 Riesling reflects the Half Moon terroir, expert viticulture and winemaking prowess that made the 2010 vintage such a huge success. Big, superior fruit combined with crisp lingering acids, indicate that the 2011 might be picking up a few gongs of its own. Whilst local retail support for Half Moon products has been somewhat challenged for unfathomable reasons, Sue Maas at Wines on Wallace has got right behind our local label and stocks the entire range along with a number of other excellent wines from this region.
Half Moon’s success is something that all of us in Braidwood should be proud of. We should support local produce and when we have access to something so local and of such incredible quality, the choice isn’t difficult.
View pdfHalf Moon – Riesling to the challenge
From Braidwood Times, October 6 2012ICE like that in the picture is enough to scare any farmer.
But for the second year in a row, the frost-protection system at Half Moon Wines, at Mongarlowe, in the southern tablelands, has saved the vineyard from damaging frosts.
The system, now used by many grape farmers in cold regions, works by spraying water onto the vines, which forms icicles that protect the buds when the temperature dips below freezing.
Inside the icicles, the temperature remains about zero, allowing the ice to insulate the buds from frost, which forms when the air temperature drops below freezing.
The manager of Half Moon Wines, Mal Sharp, said: “Most people look at the icicles and think, ‘Oh, my gosh, you’ve destroyed your vines.’
“But it works like a snow cave: on the outside it can be well below zero degrees, but inside the cave it is OK.”
As long as the icicles are continually sprayed with water until the temperature rises high enough for the ice to melt, the buds remain protected, Mr Sharp said.
The system was introduced after years of devastating frosts, which could halve the volume of grapes produced in a season. In 2006, three consecutive frosts destroyed almost a quarter of the vineyard’s vines, setting production back two years.
”It wasn’t worth making wine from the amount of grapes we were getting,” Mr Sharp said.
The area could experience frosts between late April and early November, he said.
Half Moon Winery, which produces grapes to make riesling, shiraz and chardonnay, has even had a frost on Christmas Day.
“We’ve had temperatures at 32 degrees during the day, and then all of a sudden you’ll get a cold snap at night which wipes everything out,” Mr Sharp said.
Every night during the frost period he and his wife, Jenny, go to bed with a remote weather station on the bedside table.
If the temperature outside dips below 2.5 degrees, an alarm goes off. When it falls to 1 degree, Mr Sharp turns on the frost protection system.
The decade-old vineyard now has grapes grow on the first buds of the season.
”Other years we’ve only got fruit on secondary or tertiary buds,” Mr Sharp said.”If you get grapes off the first buds, in theory you should get a full crop.”
Halfmoon Wines Strikes Silver
From Braidwood Times, 1st December 2010At the Small Vigerons Wine Show, Halfmoon Wines was awarded Silver for their 2010 Riesling. They also scored Bronze medals in the Canberra Region Wine Show and also in the Canberra Riesling Challenge.
In 2008 it was decided to try and get a wine maker in the Canberra area to make the wines. Prior to this the grapes were taken to Wine Maker David Lowe in Mudgee who was wine maker for Tony Maxwell’s vineyard up there. Enquiries were made and they struck gold in the form of Canberra wine maker Alex McKay of Collector Wines, he came out to the Halfmoon Vineyard and said because of the unique position and vineyard setup that he would take us onboard, because of the small grape harvest that year because of previous frost he suggested that we make a blend of Riesling and Pinot Gris and the Two Vines wine came about. With frost protection in place the 2010 vintage was the best to date and Chardonnay, Two Vines, Pinot Gris, Riesling, and Shiraz Viognier, were made the present year is shaping up good and if everything goes to plan we will have another good vintage.
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