Our vineyards are the essence of our wine and the love of what we do, and biodynamics is the path along which we allow their character to shine.  Respect for the life force of the vines and their natural condition lends itself to capturing fruit with vitality and integrity resulting in wines that reflect their origins from Ngeringa.
 
We have 3 predominant vineyard terroir, two in Mt Barker Springs to the west of the Mount Barker summit and one near the township of Nairne, to the north of the Mount Barker summit.  Laid out with narrow rows of 1.5m and close 1m inter-row plantings, we care for the vines by hand and with specialised narrow equipment. Select clones of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are planted on the cooler easterly facing slopes in Mt Barker Springs along with a few clones of Shiraz and Viognier.  The soil is a light sandy loam over clay.  The majority of our Shiraz and Viognier however is planted facing west on a textured soil of micaceous schist and ironstone over clay on the Nairne terroir. We also have a small planting of Sangiovese & Nebbiolo on the westerly slopes of Mt Barker Springs, a sandy loam and ironstone soil over clay.

 

Seemingly regardless of day time temperatures, Ngeringa receives cool (or shall we say cold) evening sea winds as if on cue blown in from the southern sea over the Murray Mouth.  A wonderful natural aid for the acid and flavour development/retention in the fruit.

 

Rather than pushing the vines to produce to the maximum, we prune thoughtfully, shoot & bunch thin and allow them their own pace of growth.

 
Believing in the need to establish a natural balance in the monoculture environment of a vineyard means seeing more than just a vine in the vineyard.  Consequently, we have many 2 and 4 legged creatures prowling the vineyard at different times of the year; guinea fowl and chooks during spring and summer to keep control of any insect imbalance, sheep in winter as natural lawn mowers and recyclers of nutrients and then of course we can only be delighted to encourage healthy wildlife populations of insects, spiders and birds (pre-veraison that is) of which there are always plenty. 

 

The cows are too clumsy to move through the vineyard rows but are essential for our need of nutritious cow manure used in the enormous compost piles we create each year and for our biodynamic brews and preparations.  We therefore also make our own hay to sustain the cows throughout summer but also for use in our compost. 

 

We are an integrated farm therefore.  With our aim to make the wine we love we find ourselves doing so much more!