ESTATE
VINEYARDS
MAGNOLIA - VINE VALE VINEYARD
One of two estate vineyards our Magnolia vineyard is located in the Vine Vale sub region of the Barossa Valley. This vineyard has an exciting array of viticultural traits that make for excellent wine grape growing. The vineyard lies between 305-335 metres in elevation and sits at the base of Mengler's Hill where three gullies converge and three winter streams meet. To the West the vineyard is protected from the hot Westerly sun and winds by a small gum lined hill. The vineyard is strongly influenced by cold air drainage from the three surrounding gullies by the winds known as the 'Vine Vale doctor'. These gully winds lead to lower average temperatures and rapid cooling from sunset to sunrise.
The vineyard soils are predominantly deep alluvial sands many metres in depth ground from the granitic rock of the surrounding hills. A small section on a moderate Easterly slope is comprised of sandy loam over clay with schist rock, mica and rose quartz.
The land was owned and worked by the Yates family since the 1850's until our purchase in June 2013. The first plantings began in the 1890's including 1896, 1965, 1996, 2010 & 2016 Shiraz, 1950 Grenache, 1941,71,75 Semillon and 2016 Grenache Blanc . In wetter years the whole vineyard is dry grown. In drier years two thirds of the vineyard is dry grown with the remaining third usually receiving one or two irrigations.
KRONDORF VINEYARD
The second of our estate vineyards, the Krondorf vineyard is located in the Krondorf sub region of the Barossa Valley. The vineyard is situated at the foothills of Kaiser Stuhl and is strongly influenced by the local gully winds which rapidly cool the landscape and keep disease at bay. Another dominant feature of the site is the 'Terra Rossa' like soil consisting of sandy loam over heavy red clay with calcareous material at depth. The ability of the soil to store large amounts of moisture and hold it tightly in it's matrix allows the vines to produce fruit that delivers powerful and complex wines. The vineyard consists of Grenache planted in 1903 and 1999 and in 2014 the remaining land was planted to five exceptional clones of Shiraz and two patches of bush vine Mataro (selection massale).
