Our Philosophy
Our winemaking is premised on fruit quality, preserved and sensitively influenced. It is an approach which balances technology and intuition. The objective is to make wines with clear varietal character, expressive of our vineyard sites and our approach to winemaking.
Vineyard management is meticulous and labour intensive reflecting our belief that it is here that wine quality is first established. .
Vines are grafted to phylloxera resistant, devigourating rootstocks while the mix of clonal material has evolved to better suit specifics of site and wine quality or style. An increase in plant density form less than 2000, (in the original vineyard blocks), to more than 5000 per hectare has also played an important part in the drive for balanced vines, lower yields and improved fruit quality.
Vines are pruned hard, to either a single or double cane, and trained to a simple canopy of vertically positioned shoots (VSP). This is the first step to moderating crop while the open canopy allows penetration of sunlight and ventilation, crucial to fruit character and disease control. Throughout the growing season, shoot thinning and positioning, leaf and lateral removal, fruit thinning and grooming and finally hand harvest are all aimed at advancing the harvest of evenly ripened fruit in optimum condition.
Developing from our belief in sustainable practices we introduced an organic management programme in late 2008, with the Hope Vineyard gaining full BioGro certification in 2011. It is the aim to extend this to the other vineyards in the coming years.
|
