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Our vineyard was first planted in October/November 2004, with approximately 2 hectares/5 acres each of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. These varieties, being early ripening, were selected principally because of their greater suitability for the cool climate conditions of the Southern Highlands. The vineyard is at an elevation of 700 metres, located on the outskirts of the hisotric and preserved Georgian village of Berrima.
The vineyard paddock is gently sloping North East, well drained and the soil is medium loam over underlying sandstone. There are two clones of Sauv Blanc planted (SB 2585 and SB H5V10) and three Pinot clones (PN 144, PN 115, and PN 777). All rows are 3 metres wide, with the Sauv Blanc planted at 2m spacings, and the Pinot at 1.2m.
In October 2007 we planted a small section of Cabernet Sauvignon (0.4 Ha of Clone SA 125). As a variety, Cabernet Sauvignon is less suited to a cool climate situation, but with dedicated care and management and low yielding vines we hope to achieve some elegant and high quality fruit.
In October/November of 2006 several severe frosts did considerable damage to some of the young Sauv Blanc and Pinot vines. Many of the vines hard to be pruned to ground-level, or completely replaced. The vineyard is only now recovering from those events. We have had 3 Sauv Blanc and 2 Pinot harvests, and wine is currently for sale
from the 2009 vintage. Our 2010 vintage is currently in the making, with very promising signs.
Our objective is to do the very best job that
we can in our vineyard - to produce high quality fruit and give the winemaker the best chance to produce a high quality, boutique wine. As a small producer in a cool climate situation, we cannot compete on quantity - if we are to achieve success it will be through the quality of our grapes and final wine products.
© 2008 Peter and Diana Daly