I really enjoyed my one-on-one visit with Dan Pannell the owner/ wine-maker of PICARDY winery in Pemberton, western Australia. I just blogged about Dan in the previous blog but was unable to include the pictures earlier. Here are some of them at the winery, in the barrel room, in his parent's Tuscan-style villa where we slept, in the restaurant and at his home and while making some of the rounds with him on a workday for him. Dan was nice enough to include us and let us tag along. Enjoy. The pictures include his wife Jodie and their boy and girl as well as friends and business associates, workers at the winery, etcetera. Chris Pigott and I were there for two days around the 12th or 13th of February, 2008 during their summer. It was beautiful and hot and we were on vacation and having a blast, eating and drinking ( the Tete de Cuvee 2005 Pinot that we enjoyed the first night at dinner in the town of Pemberton sure was a treat. You can see it in one of the pictures along with the regular bottling. It's the Tete de Cuvee that Dan wants to have enough of for he and his fishing buddies I believe! ) well and being really well-entertained, too.
I notice that in the picture of the platter of sandwiches and shrimp and other goodies that at the corner is a pamphlet of Dan's neighbor ( Lake Wines - there must be more to the name than this?! ) that the neighbor makes as well as having a restaurant. They were also from Pemberton and a nice way to start our visit with Dan before going into his barrel room to try those fabulous 2006 Pinots still in the barrel. You can see how bright and clear the color is in some of them in the pictures. Thanks guys.
I've just added the pictures and I see how much we did. We had three meals with Dan all pictured here, we spent a wonderful time tasting his new barrels of 2006 Pinot Noir that really impressed me no end, we delivered some barrels to a winery, we drove through some of Pemberton and we ended up in Margaret River where we had lunch on the main drag there ( looks like a beach resort to me ) at a restaurant called VAT I think and met up with a colleague of Dan's that works for the Aussie government and promotes Aussie wine trade among other things. You can see in the close-up picture of Dan reading the menu that on the balckboard on the wall beyond him is written Picardy Pinot Noir. That's what I ordered. I also told the waitress that Dan was the winemaker of it. It was alright for me to blow his horn but not him I understand. That's okay, I thought that she should know.
The bit of time spent on the second morning at Dan's home in the company of his family as they got ready for the children's school day was really special, too. It was beautiful there in Pemberton at PICARDY winery. You can see the fresh fruit on the table in front of the group photo that was picked right off their fruit trees just feet away. The picture where the two children are studying the models in their hands and of Dan's daughter driving us there before are priceless. Thanks for sharing with us. TONY
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