THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER
Apologies to Sam Coleridge for appropriating those words (above) from his poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; I do understand he was talking about sea water not river water, but to be honest, I wouldn’t be drinking the flood water from around Forbes NSW or anywhere else along the Murray at the moment, for that matter.
FORCE MAJEURE
The flooding in Forbes, NSW has caused chaos for transport to the east and west and all points in between. The rail line at Forbes has been washed out and so all freight going west must go by road, and there is intense demand for trucks. I believe that on top of this there is a fair amount of freight backed up, too.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA AND AUSTRALIA POST
Australia Post will be applying a WA Emergency Service that will incur an additional emergency measure cost of 40% (ex GST) of the freight charges currently set out, as of Monday 28th November. I hope for AP’s sake they won’t be repenting for all eternity their decision to put the prices up.
This means our (very well-priced) cost of shipping a dozen wines to WA which is currently $15.00/ dozen has to go up to $21.00. We can’t absorb the cost, sadly. If that sounds like too much to pay, even to get our wines over your way, Sand Gropers may source some of the good stuff from the list below which details outlets in Western Australia which stock our Battle of Bosworth and Spring Seed Wines.
RETAIL OUTLETS WHICH STOCK BATTLE OF BOSWORTH AND SPRING SEED WINES IN WA
| Asquith Cellars |
| Baldivis IGA Cellarbrations |
| Beldon Tavern |
| Bicton Cellars |
| Big Brews |
| Bottle-O Rockingham (IGA Xpress) |
| Boyanup Cellars |
| Brentwood Cellars |
| Butler Specialty Cellars (Thirsty Camel) |
| Byford Tavern |
| Castletown Liquor |
| Cellarbrations at Kalgoorlie |
| Cellarbrations at Meadow Springs |
| Cellarbrations at Shelley Hub |
| Cellarbrations Carlisle |
| Cellarbrations Helena Valley |
| Cellarbrations Mullaloo (IGA Plus Liquor) |
| Cellarbrations Myaree |
| Cellarbrations Queens |
| Cellarbrations Superstore Hamilton Hill |
| Cellarbrations Vic Park |
| Claremont Cellars |
| Claremont Specialty Liquor (Porters) |
| Cobblers Tavern COB |
| Cobblers Tavern COB |
| Commune Wine Store |
| Copper and Oak Liquor Merchants (Tuart Hill) |
| Devine Cellars |
| Dongara IGA |
| Glen Forrest Liquor Store |
| Gooseberry Hill Cellars |
| Grand Cru Wineshop & Cellar Ardross |
| Greenfields Liquor Store |
| Hamilton Tavern (Liquor Barons) |
| Heathridge Liquor Store (Bottlemart) |
| Innaloo Speciality Liquor (Cellarbrations Morris) |
| Kardinya Tavern |
| La Vigna |
| Liquor Barons Applecross (Canning Bridge IGA) |
| Liquor Barons at Sunset |
| Liquor Barons Ballajura City |
| Liquor Barons Bayswater |
| Liquor Barons Bullcreek |
| Liquor Barons Carlisle |
| Liquor Barons Claremont |
| Liquor Barons Duncraig |
| Liquor Barons East Fremantle |
| Liquor Barons Kenwick |
| Liquor Barons Lesmurdie |
| Liquor Barons Marmion |
| Liquor Barons Melville |
| Liquor Barons Morley (The Beer Store) |
| Liquor Barons Mosman Park (Fine Wine & Spirits) |
| Liquor Barons Mt Hawthorn |
| Liquor Barons Narrogin |
| Liquor Barons Nedlands |
| Liquor Barons On Angelo |
| Liquor Barons Seascapes |
| Liquor Barons Wembley Downs |
| Liquor Barons Willetton |
| Liquor Traders Australia Pty Ltd |
| Malibu IGA Plus |
| Margaret River Regional Wine Centre |
| Margaret River Regional Wine Centre |
| Moonyoonooka Store |
| Mount Henry Tavern |
| Mullaloo Beach Hotel |
| Mundaring Liquor Store (Cellarbrations) |
| Mundijong IGA (Cellarbrations) |
| Nannup Liquor Store |
| Port Kennedy Tavern |
| Port Quays Liquor and Deli |
| Premix King Balcatta |
| Rosemount Hotel |
| Rossmoyne Cellars (Bottle O) |
| Scarborough Cellars |
| Serpentine Liquor Store |
| South Street Liquor (Liquor Barons Beaconsfield) |
| The Freo Doctor Liquor Store |
| The Kewdale Tavern |
| The Liquor Shed |
| The Re Store |
| The River Hotel |
| The Wine Box Nedlands |
| Willagee Liquor Store |
| Windsor Hotel |
WILLUNGA RAIN EVENT
This may not match Forbes and surrounding NSW, but here was our flood on Saturday 12th November. This kept Celia and Joch housebound for an hour or two.
We had 60 mm of rain overnight at Willunga, plus a mini-tornado (apparently) and Joch and Celia the eldest were marooned for about an hour, long enough for Celia to be late for work at Russell’s Pizza (well worth visiting if you are in Willunga and hungry on a Friday or Saturday night).
The flood inundated the harvest shed where we store the wine for cellar door and mail orders. Luckily Celia Bosworth finished her year 12 exams in time to start her intern job at Bosworth wines to be able to clean the shed the very next week :). No wines were damaged in the shed inundation FYI, thankfully. In all seriousness, we are incredibly lucky to have got off relatvely unscathed.
ORGANIC UNDER-VINE WEEDING ON KANGAROO ISLAND
From the sublime to the ridiculous, weather-wise, or at least the other way around. See in the photo above some most excellent Clemens under-vine weeding on the Kangaroo Island vines at Springs Road. The weather there looks as though butter wouldn’t melt in its mouth, does it? The fact that we couldn’t use the drive way up off the Playford Highway pretty much all winter doesn’t appear possible looking at that sparkling blue sky, does it? Nice weeding, Jocho.