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The Humbug Reach wine taste and chat podcast
humbug_the_chat.mp3 ( 22.2 mb, 24:17 minutes ) humbug_the_chat2.mp3 (  12.6 mb,  13:46 minutes )	Before we got stuck into the tasting we wanted to know more about Paul, Sally and their vineyard. Paul took us through the thinking that went into purchasing a vineyard, we hear about the nightmare that is the modified lyre, we learn how wearing a beret turns you into a master French winemaker, we discuss the reality of making a commitment to quality over income, to finish the first part we are introduced to the "800 litres of shame". We can't help ourselves we have to briefly talk footy, we find out how you have a job that takes you round the world and still run a vineyard, Paul tells us how he met Sally, we hear what it's like having twins and how people say the darndest things. To finish we talk about Paul's best and worst wine experiences.
Modern_etiquette.mp3 ( 2.81 mb, 3:04 minutes )	Paul helps us chat up girls from foreign lands and settles the vexed issue of what to call your 'significant other'.
humbug_riesling.mp3 ( 8.99 mb, 9:49 minutes )	Paul talks us through the 08 and 06 Humbug Reach rieslings
humbug_chardonnay.mp3 ( 3.78 mb,  4:08 minutes )	It's onto the chardonnay. In particular the 08.
humbug_pinot.mp3 ( 15.5 mb,  16:59 minutes )	We finish our tasting with the pinots which come from 20 year old vines. We try unsuccessfully to get Paul to match wine with something other than seafood.

Paul McShane - Another mild mannered scientist by day .....

Paul looks like a footy player. He looks like the type of bloke that would be damned handy in the back line but could also go forward and kick a few goals if needed. In fact his two sons are footballers and doing very nicely thank you in the Tassie statewide league. However Paul is in fact a scientist. At one time he was an acknowledged abalone expert but nowadays manages sustainability projects for MacQuarie University.  It happens that he used to work with Karen Miller and Craig Mundy of Two Bud Spur fame.

Paul teaches PJ

When he's not doing that he, along with his wife Sally, runs the Humbug Reach vineyard in the small Tamar Valley town/ commuter suburb of Legana. The vineyard name comes from the stretch of the Tamar river next to which they are situated and was an expression (bah humbug) that local sailors probably used a lot as they were becalmed yet again in that point of the river.

Although the term 'bah humbug' was made famous by the Charles Dickens novel 'A Christmas Carol' it was also a phrase that ought not be used in polite company being, as it was, a rather crude term used by those lacking in sufficient breeding. Imagine naming a landmark, geographical feature or vineyard after crude terms nowadays? (no examples please - Ed). 

Ten years ago Paul and Sally didn't go looking for a vineyard. They were happy just to find somewhere that was convenient and could accommodate their young and active family. However when they saw the property at Legana they became curious about running a vineyard. "It piqued our interest" Paul said. "We were a little naive we thought mother nature would take care of the grapes". He laughs "I mean how hard could it be?".  Oh if only we had a dollar for every time we have heard those words!

Having made the decision to purchase the property and gotten over the realisation that all 5,000 vines would need hand nurturing Paul and Sally set about turning Humbug Reach into a commercial vineyard. As part of that process they had to deal with one of the quirks of the property. The original owners decided to use the modified lyre approach to trellising on some of the vines. This is a traditional method in places like Burgundy. "It gives fantastic fruit but the maintenance is diabolical!" Paul informed us.

Paul and the wines

The journey, as you would expect, has been interesting but full of ups and downs. Their first vintage was very successful. "Unfortunately the wine was bottled under another label". Paul admits they got a little over confident, "We thought running a vineyard was easy! But the following year bought us back to earth". 2001 saw them faced with a dilemma, should they even bother to pick the fruit? It left them with the real fear that they may not be able to consistently produce fruit that meets their very high standards.

Despite that low point they persevered and have seen their wines win medals and trophies (their 2002 pinot won two trophies). Underlying this success is a commitment to quality even at the risk of reducing their revenue. This isn't just talk. "We take the view that we only want the very best fruit so we drop a lot of fruit on the ground. People who pick for us can't believe how wasteful we are but we're not in the business of producing sub standard wine". 

As anyone who puts principle in front of revenue knows commitment comes at a price. "I'd be starving to death, my family would be out in the street begging if I were relying on this (the vineyard) as a source of income" Paul quipped in response to our query about whether their vineyard was helping them make a living. "We haven't made a cracker out of this vineyard because we are putting everything back into it" he added.

The 'sophisticated' winery

Paul has started down the road to becoming a winemaker. Again early success isn't always a good thing. "I was possessed with a naive degree of self confidence from my first vintage which turned out, so far, to be pretty good" Paul confesses. "So visiting Burgundy I thought if I strap on a beret I can produce pinot that resembles Burgundy quality". He then went on to tell us about how not to make wine using a wild ferment.

Luckily Sally suggested saving some of the fruit and using a traditional yeast just in case. "That turned out to be very good advice because I have 800 litres of wine which is testament to my heroic assumption of my burgundy quality winemaking skills". Paul then went on to say what we think is probably the smartest comment about winemaking we have ever heard. The 800 litres is "a potent reminder of how you can't replicate years and years of experience just because you read a few books or look over the shoulder of other winemakers".

We did try the 800 litres of 'the wine of shame' and yes it is faulty but it wasn't as bad as Paul had said. In fact I am sure I have tasted worse both as clean skin and, more worryingly, as vintage. Still we believe mistakes only turn into blunders if you don't learn from them and Paul has certainly learnt a lot from what he describes as his $10,000 education.

The range

As usual we finish our conversation dealing with more personal issues. We wanted to know how Paul met Sally (shouldn't that be Harry? - Ed). We thought being a marine scientist was just a good job but no it also helps you pick up beautiful women. "It's my magnetic personality" Paul quipped. Whatever it was it has worked for 25 years. Along the way they were blessed with twins. "It took it (our relationship) to a whole new level. I was really excited about having twins, again like the vineyard you don't realise how much work is involved!". 

Interestingly Paul and Sally want to move to Melbourne both for themselves and to give their sons an opportunity to further their football careers. Sadly the Kangaroos don't seem to feature in these plans but they are young and there's time for them to come to their senses. The question will be how will they manage to run the vineyard from Melbourne? The answer isn't clear at this stage but we're sure they will manage it in the same way that they have managed everything else in the past - quite well.

Paul and Sally

If you listen to the wine tasting podcasts (and you should - Ed) you will know that Paul struggles to nominate a food and wine match that doesn't involve fish. When we said give us a meat match for the pinot he replied "I make a nice seafood stew".

Eventually he did concede that the pinot would go with roast lamb but then ruined it by suggesting adding beetroots. Seems you can take the marine biologist out of the sea but not the sea out of the biologist.

To help him and everyone else we recently tried a bottle of the 08 chardonnay and matched it with pork stuffed with sage and pesto. It went extremely well. See, now that wasn't so hard was it?

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