ROMAN emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius encouraged people to do good ‘as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne’. Slow Food Perth invites you to experience ‘ the good’ and to join us to celebrate the bounty of the vine at Cosham Wines, Carmel – in the run of the Bickley Valley – on Sunday 18 October 2009.

Cosham Wines epitomises ‘small, slow wine’. The two-and-a-half hectare vineyard nestles in an east-west fork of the beautiful Bickley-Carmel valley complex, where the soil comprises typical Darling Range gravelly loam with some clay. The vines yield from a well-drained sloping aspect watered by good rainfall. Chilling winter days are plentiful, followed by clear, warm ripening weather in summer.

Maxinne, Rod and Anto Sclanders tend the vines and pick and vintage the grapes by hand, managing without insecticides, chemical fertilisers or any synthetic pesticides. Cosham’s exceptional sparkling wine is bottle-fermented and made by the traditional methode champenoise using only whole bunch-pressed pinot noir grapes grown in the vineyard. Maxinne, Rod and Anto also produce chardonnay, dry red pinot noir, shiraz and a cabernet merlot blend.

Slow Food Perth’s vineyard bounty picnic menu will include local, seasonal produce prepared for lunch by our committee members. This will be partnered by some heritage wines which the Sclanders are planning to offer from their cellar, together with more recent vintages. We look forward to your company. Fee: $35 members, $45 guests, includes lunch. Wine available for purchase. Children under 12 free. Booking form: Word version or PDF version. Information: email Slow Food Perth.

IMPORTANT note: Cosham estate includes unfenced open water – parents are asked to take direct responsibility for children. Cosham Wines and Slow Food Perth accept no liability.