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Our Principles

Vines that are healthy and in balance produce the best grapes and therefore make the best wines.
A great effort is to keep the vines free from disease, have the correct amount of nutrients and the relationship between all elements, for example soil moisture and canopy, are in balance.

Essentially dry grown

Vines need to have sufficient moisture to grow and ripen the fruit to its optimum so some moisture is applied if the season is extremely dry. The timing is critical and is generally after verasion.

Minimal (Zero) use of insecticides

The use of birds, natural predators like lady birds, and some biological control agents are used to control insect numbers. Chemical insecticides have an adverse effect on these natural predators which will reduce their effectiveness and the system is in balance without the need for these.

Minimal (Zero) cultivation

A permanent volunteer grass sward is maintained. It is slashed at certain times of the year to return vegetable matter into the top soil. This acts as a mulch layer which improves moisture retention and builds the natural biota like worms. The vines root system have a better spread thoughout the soil profile and helps the vine to withstand dry spells without extreme stress.

Handmade

To produce the best wines from this terroir there are many operations that must be done by hand. For example pruning, picking, canopy management and so on. Modern technology has made considerable improvements in the quality of wines and the understanding of how the vine works but at the end of the day it is still the time honoured method of tending by hand that produces the best wines.