Delve into the secret lives of wine dogs
Sara Schwarz
Mog the famous winedog of VisitVineyards.com and Milford, Tasmania [©VisitVineyards.com]
Your average Wine Dog is an unassuming beast, often seen wandering through vineyards, snoozing outside cellar doors or loyally trailing winemakers about their daily duties. Visitors are therefore often unaware of the vitally important roles these hard working hounds play in the winemaking process.
In the Vineyard
The vineyard is a popular domain of the Wine Dog. It is here that a wine is truly made and it is therefore essential the precious fruits of the vine be protected at all cost. Marauding mobs of kangaroos, flocks of pilfering starlings and the odd wedge tail eagle are the sworn enemy of the Wine Dog who with much chasing and barking, ensures an ongoing eradication program of these pesky pests.
Another essential task for these Jack-Russell-of-all-Trades is determining the fruit’s readiness for harvesting, with some smarter human vignerons having learned to defer to the palates of their canine companions. A selection of talented Wine Dogs have developed an uncanny knack for wandering the vineyards, gently devouring select grapes from bunches. When tested these very bunches have been found to be at the point of optimum ripeness for harvest.
Mornington Peninsula vineyard Paradigm Hill's Wine Dog, Jemima has also been known to transfer her skills to the strawberry patch, to the bemusement of her owners.
In the Winery
As summer draws to a close each year, the grapes are harvested and crushing begins in wine cellars across the nation. At this time, a Wine Dog’s focus is shifted inside onto matters of safety and quality control.
Wine Dogs can be found cleaning up rogue spills from overflowing tanks and pumps or testing puddles of juice for their acidity and sugar levels. Often the winemaking equipment requires testing for strength and durability and a wise Wine Dog will endeavour to assist by tossing wine barrel bungs around or tugging at the end of a winery hose. And as tempers begin to fray from the long hours endured during vintage Wine Dogs will step in to diffuse any tension with a cunning game of 'chase the bung' or a well timed belly rub.
At Cellar Door
These skills also transfer to the Cellar Door, where a good Wine Dog will ensure even the shyest of guests are immediately put at ease. As customers alight from their car they are led, with a wag of the tail, into the knowledgeable hands of the waiting cellar door staff. Child minding services are also on offer as Wine Dogs distract children with a game of chase or ball throwing, giving weary parents time to unwind and enjoy the wines on offer.
Probably the most essential role of any wine dog is of course dietary management. Winemakers and other hard working winery staff are great lovers of food and have on occasion been known to over indulge. A good Wine Dog, himself a connoisseur, understands this and what humans take to be the simple act of begging at meal times is in fact a carefully calculated program to ensure winery staff keep within a healthy height to weight ratio.
So next time you visit a winery cellar door, pause a while to say thank you to one of the hardest workers in the wine industry.
VisitVineyards.com too is home to a famous wine dog, MOG (Matter Other than Grapes), who lives at Milford Vineyard in Tasmania and features as a Previous Wine Dog of the Month. You can read more about MOG in about us.
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