They love talking about vines and will talk about wine to anyone even vaguely interested. Ask them to talk about themselves however and things get a bit awkward. But given they wouldn’t trust a product that didn’t divulge something of its creators, here’s what they would want to know if we were you.
Buying an existing vineyard without really knowing its potential is something you could lose a lot of sleep over. Dig all the holes you like and analyse the soil to within an inch of its life but no amount of tests can tell you what these vines will do under the influence of your own guiding hands. In the end you just have to go with your gut. Like choosing a life partner, when you know you know.
All the vines are planted on their own roots meaning the site expresses itself more truly through the variety, not via the roots of another – something that excites Neil in particular having worked with vines in France, South Africa and New Zealand where barely a single one taps its own roots.
Under no circumstances whatsoever will they use herbicides, systemic fungicides or insecticides in their vines/on their property. The most important life on The Wine Farm (family and pets aside) is what crawls beneath the soils.
Great wine is the sum of hundreds of decisions from vineyard to bottle. As the ‘maker’ all you can do is try to make the best decision you can at any point in time. For them, making the right decision always comes down to asking themselves one simple question: will this action help or hinder the ability of their wine to show provenance.
They bottle all our wines on site using a gravity-fed hand-bottling unit, seal them with natural cork and cellar them carefully until they’re ready to release to the market.
Four vintages in and the wines are telling us a lot about theirnew home. They speak of the crisp, bright, freshness that is their climate and the delicate, crunchy, multi-layered soils. They speak quietly and confidently of The Wine Farm. Image Credit: The Wine Farm
a. 370 Koonwarra-Inverloch Rd Koonwarra, VIC, Australia 3954
