Curtis Family Vineyards

13/10/2026

Not a bad place to come to work.

Spring is well and truly happening around the w**ery now. Vines waking up, everything turning green again, and another vintage slowly starting to take shape out there.

From up here it all looks very calm.

Give it a few months. 😅🍇

**eryLife **e

09/10/2026

Four years in oak and still not in a hurry.

Tom pulled this one down from the barrel hall for a quick check. 2022 McLaren Flat Shiraz, still doing its thing, still taking its time.

Last touched in July. Topped up, looked after, sent back to keep maturing.

Some barrels just aren't rushing.

06/10/2026

It’s that time of year again.

Last year’s grapes are heading back to where they started.

After vintage, the skins and stems don’t just disappear. They’ve been sitting on the compost pile, breaking down quietly in the background, and now they’re being spread back through the vineyard.

So the fruit we picked last season becomes part of the soil that helps grow the next one.

More organic matter.
More nutrients returned to the ground.
Better soil structure and moisture retention.
Less waste leaving the property.

And healthier soil gives the vines a better environment to do their job.

There’s something pretty satisfying about the loop:

Grow grapes.
Make w**e.
Compost what’s left.
Feed the vineyard.
Start again.

Not the glamorous end of w**emaking.

But definitely one of the smartest.

**e **emaking **e

01/10/2026

29/09/2026

What happens when a vineyard decides to give you twice as much Merlot? 🍇

Last year, this block gave us around 15 tonnes.

When everything lines up? Tom reckons it can push towards 30–40 tonnes.

Sounds great… until one fermenter suddenly becomes four and all that fruit decides to arrive at roughly the same time. 😅

That’s apparently the moment you put on your **“big boy pants”** and get on with vintage.

Right now though, it all starts here: tiny buds, at different stages, on the vines that will eventually become our Legion Merlot.

A lot can happen between budburst and bottle.

**emaking **e **e

25/09/2026

Last time we showed you the Octavian in the tank.

This week it's going into bottle.

Tom's been on the bottling line all morning. Tiberius is done, the Octavian is on now, and he's already halfway through the first pallet.

These are our icon w**es. Tiberius, Octavian, Claudius. Only about 3,000 bottles of each. It's not a lot.

The process sounds simple when Tom explains it. Hook on the line, wash down the machine, get the bottles ready, swap the wax, make sure everything's adjusted so the bottles don't get smashed. Then get the ball rolling.

But this is the end of four years of patience in barrel. A week and a half on the bottling line and the 2022 Octavian will be done.

23/09/2026

Four years is a long time to let a w**e sit in barrel.

Most things don't improve with four years of doing nothing. W**e does.

Last week we bottled the 2022 Tiberius. This week, it's Octavian's turn. Back in 2022 we fermented it, moved it into oak at the end of vintage, and then just let it sit there. For four years. Quietly minding its own business while the rest of us kept busy.

Tom pulled it out of barrel midweek, put the final touches on it, ran it through filtration, and moved it into the tank. As of right now it's hooked up to the bottling line and we're working through it.

Four years of patience, about to go into bottle.

18/09/2026

Vintage 2027 doesn’t start at harvest.

It starts now.

Winter has done its job, there’s plenty of moisture in the ground, the sun’s starting to take over, and across McLaren Vale, the vines are waking up.

Tom’s been out in the vineyard checking the first signs of budburst and seeing how things are developing from vine to vine.

Still a long road between these tiny green shoots and a bottle of w**e… but this is where the next vintage begins. 🍇

Spring is here. Let’s see what 2027 has in store.

**e **emaking **e

16/09/2026

Three years in oak.

Then, finally, this.

The Octavian Shiraz, one of our Icon w**es made its way out of barrel and onto the bottling line.

There’s something pretty satisfying about watching a w**e you’ve checked, tasted, waited on and talked about for years suddenly become a finished bottle.

36 months in new French oak. A lot of patience. A lot of small decisions along the way.

Then the line starts moving… and there it is.

Octavian.

We captured the process properly this time. Videos dropping soon. 🍷

**e **emaking **e

11/09/2026

Grenache and Shiraz from McLaren Vale: two varieties that just belong together.

Grenache brings the generous fruit and vibrancy. Shiraz brings the structure, the boldness, the seriousness. Put them in the same bottle and they don't compete, they complement.

Mark walks through why our Small Batch Grenache Shiraz is one of the most popular w**es in the small batch range. It's approachable enough for everyone, but there's plenty of substance to keep you coming back.

Not too over the top. Not too restrained. Right in the middle, where the good stuff lives.

**e **e **eEducation **eTok