![Susan Frazier and Adam Bell in the Whispering Brook vineyard. Susan Frazier and Adam Bell in the Whispering Brook vineyard.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/silverstone-feed-data/19e48b24-15f0-4aa7-a5fa-c364e2b9ba3f.jpg/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Husband and wife winemaking team Susan Frazier and Adam Bell have been inspired by an ancient traditional French event called Festival of the Sarment in their Whispering Brook winery contribution to the Broke-Fordwich Spirit of the Vine.
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In the Sarment Festival pruned canes from the previous harvest are used in open fires to cook a feast, imparting the flavours of the vines to the food.
Susan and Adam have saved the canes pruned from the Whispering Brook vineyard earlier this year so they can stage their own Burning of the Canes feasts on Saturday and Sunday, October 23 and 24.
The events celebrate a coming milestone in Susan’s and Adam’s 10-year ownership of the 10-hectare Whispering Brook property in Hill Street, Broke.
The 2011 harvest in their vineyard will see them undertake their first vintage as qualified winemakers in their newly developed, purpose-built winery.
Susan, a country girl who worked as an industrial chemist with Unilever and then moved into corporate finance, and Adam, a Sydney lawyer, live in Sydney, but they and their two small children spend as much time as they can at Whispering Brook.
The property has an olive grove and a guest house and the couple have recently added a planting of the Portuguese-origin touriga nacional variety to their 2.8hectares of semillon, shiraz and chardonnay.
Their long-standing love of wine recently culminated in their both gaining their Charles Sturt University Bachelor of Wine Science degrees.
The October 23 and 24 Burning of the Canes lunches will feature dishes created by Redgate Farm.
Each day there will be $20-a-head vertical tastings of all six vintages of Whispering Brook shiraz reds and music provided by The Darren Jack Acoustic Trio. Further details can be obtained and booking made by telephoning 0265791386 or logging on to whispering-brook.com or info@whisperingbrook.com.