2021 Archives - Page 4 of 26 - Young Gun of Wine

Orbis Vineyard, McLaren Vale

The Orbis wine label was founded by Brad Moyes and Kendall Grey in 2018 when they purchased an established vineyard in McLaren Vale. The Orbis name references the idea of a self-sufficient system, and the pair anchor everything they do in sustainability, from farming to bottling. Mowing between the rows is largely performed by a flock of babydoll sheep that have been given permanent residence between the vines, with chickens and ducks to join them once a fox-proof fence trial is completed. The fruit goes to the Orbis wines made by Lauren Langfield at the onsite winery, from a pét-nat and a piquette to trousseau and an old vine shiraz, with a pair of rosés and a few non-traditional blends filling out the roster. Contract grapes are also sold to make premium products for Ministry of Clouds, Hither & Yon and Samson Tall, amongst others. Macca Mackenzie, owner Brad Moyes, and general manager Lauren Langfield.

Oliver’s Taranga, McLaren Vale

The Oliver family has been farming their land in the Seaview subregion of McLaren Vale over six generations. William and Elizabeth Oliver landed in Australia from England in 1839, setting up a mixed farm business that included wine grapes. That business grew over the years, with grape-growing eventually taking over from the general farming operations. Today, Don Oliver takes charge in the vineyard, while his niece, Corinna Wright, established the family’s winemaking business, being to the first in the family to bottle wine commercially.

Ngeringa – Summit Vineyard, Adelaide Hills

Erinn Klein and his wife, Janet, planted the Summit Vineyard at a density of 6,600 vines per hectare on his family’s property in 2001–02. Aside from being a site of excellent potential, biodynamic farming principles had been in place for over a decade, with certification coming in 1993. That property houses the herb farm at the core of the family’s Jurlique skin-care brand, providing botanicals for their products. The approach that underscores the herb farm was always going to be central to the Kleins’ vision, who run the Ngeringa brand together from the ground up, making wine on site as well as running livestock, growing vegetables and tirelessly revegetating the native environment. From the 2-hectare Summit vineyard, Ngeringa make their premium pinot noir and chardonnay, and fruit from this site also goes into the broader estate syrah and a pet-nat.

Mérite, Wrattonbully

Mike Kloak and Colleen Miller’s Mérite label was founded after the considerable success they had growing contract fruit on their vineyard in Wrattonbully. In particular, it was their acheivements with merlot that inspired them to make their own wine. That grape has had a chequered history in this country, but the wines under their label are shifting the conversation, with a quartet of new clones producing complex, flavourful wines at relatively low alcohol levels, rather than the bruising wines that we have become used to. Kloak runs his vineayrd with respect to the natural environment, planting vines around trees rather than removing them and encouraging biodiversity of flora, fauna and beneficial insects.

Markaranka, Riverland

The Markaranka Vineyard is at the heart of Treasury Wine Estate’s fortified wine program – making the company’s most iconic fortifieds, such as Penfolds’ ‘Father’, ‘Grandfather’ and ‘Great-Grandfather’ tawnies, as well Saltram’s ‘Mr Pickwick’. In South Australia’s Riverland, the vineyard is a large one at over 170 hectares, but it is managed by Brendan Turner with sustainability at its core, with an ongoing quest to reduce all inputs while producing super-premium fruit for flagship fortified wines.

Lacey Vineyards – Branson Road, McLaren Vale

Ben Lacey’s Branson Road Vineyard in the McLaren Vale subregion of Tatachilla supplies fruit to makers both big and small, from Treasury Wine Estates to new stars like Bondar and Sherrah. With just under 14 hectares of vines, Lacey grows four varieties – shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, fiano and grenache – across four distinct geologies and a range of soil types, with sea breezes (the vineyard is 3km from the ocean) cooling the site in the afternoons. With a focus on soil health and revegetating non-vineyard land, the vineyard has gone from growing average fruit to achieving consistently premium results across the blocks.

Kalleske Farm Vineyard, Barossa Valley

Kym Kalleske is the current custodian of the vines on his family’s near 170-year-old Barossa property. With the oldest vines some 147 years old, the vineyard has been biodynamically certified for over two decades, with the celebrated eponymous wine label – from classic Moppa Shiraz and Clarry’s GSM to the vibrantly fresh Parallax and Zeitgeist wines and up to the flagship Johann Georg Shiraz – just on 20 years old this year. Kym works with his parents and two brothers to ensure a rich family legacy will stretch long into the future through a focus on sustainability and regenerative agriculture.

Inkwell Vineyard, McLaren Vale

In McLaren Vale’s Tatachilla subregion, Dudley Brown and Irina Santiago-Brown’s Inkwell Vineyard is a model vineyard operation with sustainability as a driving principal. Certified organic since 2017, the vineyard has been managed with strict organics since 2008. Furthermore, in 2023 they achieved ‘Regenerative’ certification (ROC) – one of the first 15 vineyards in the world, and the first in Australia to do so. From an existing young vineyard planted solely to shiraz, the varietal mix has been tweaked since 2011 to include climate-apt grapes like primitivo, grillo and arinto, while the viticulture has been continually tweaked to improve soil health and reduce water usage. The property also houses an off-grid luxury hotel and significant biodiversity corridors. All wines are made onsite and range from varietal expressions of regional hero varieties to orange wines and preservative-free offerings.

Orbis Vineyard, McLaren Vale Macca Mackenzie, Brad Moyes & Lauren Langfield