Ashley and Holly Ratcliff’s Ricca Terra Farms project is best known for the work they have done with so-called alternative varieties, celebrating grapes that are key players in Italy and on the Iberian Peninsula. Those varieties have proven to be highly successful in the hot and dry Riverland region, having adapted to similar conditions over centuries in their homelands.
The Ricca Terra project has also been as much about how the grapes are grown as the grapes themselves. “We are accredited with Sustainable Winegrowers Australia,” says Ashley Ratcliff. “We have installed a substantial solar system to offset some of our power usage. We have a dedicated site for a native vegetation program, and we have been at the forefront with planting grape varieties that use less water. Our passion towards sustainability has seen our business recognised by the EPA [Environment Protection Authority], ASVO [Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology] and other industry bodies.”
Through both selling grapes to many cutting-edge makers and driving their own Ricca Terra Vintners, 22 Degree Halo and Terra do Rio labels, the Ratcliffs have both evolved the conversation on varieties and gone a good way to rehabilitating the reputation of the Riverland. That’s a modern story, with premium viticulture applied to a bulk wine zone, but there’s also an old story that they’re just as keen to revitalise. That piece of history is being cast into the light on an old site on Jury Road, between Glossop and Berri.
“171 Jury Road was settled over 100 years ago as part of the government’s soldier settlement scheme from WWI and WWII,” says Ratcliff. “In the past three decades, many of the plantings undertaken by the returned soldiers have been removed to make way for machine pruning and harvesting. The history of the region is quickly being erased. The vineyards where these grapes were grown fall into the ‘old vine’ category, as per the old vine charter, but they were not planted when the land was first settled in 1922.”
They may not be the original plantings from First World War settlement, but the shiraz vines – which had been converted many years ago from bush vines to a trellis – were planted in the decade after the end of the Second World War, now being over 70 years old, along with riesling and zibibbo (a Sicilian synonym for what is locally called gordo and more officially muscat of alexandria).
“Prior to purchasing the vineyard, the old shiraz vines were at risk of being removed due to lack of achieving commercial ‘Riverland’ cropping levels,” says Ratcliff. “The traditional machine pruning method of the Riverland had resulted in those old vines being unable to produce their best quality. Since we purchased the vineyard in December 2020, we have started a rejuvenation project, which has seen pruning trials undertaken to best understand how these old shiraz vines could produce better quality wines.”
That process involved a significant amount of manual labour to remove large sections of the vines and retraining to allow cane pruning trials. “The outcomes of the trial have led us to a direction to rework the entire vineyard,” says Ratcliff. “This also allows us to replace the trellis. The capital and timely direction will allow the vineyard to live on for many more years and hence preserve the history of those returned soldiers.”
That has seen wine released under the ‘Soldiers’ Land’ suite in the Ricca Terra portfolio, with some of the profits donated to the RSL on an ongoing basis. “The story of the founders and those who managed the vineyard are printed on the back label,” Ratcliff says. “This wines capture the history of the vineyard. The whole range of wines, two shiraz, a riesling and a grenache, all tell the stories of the returned soldiers and what they did for our country.”
With the existing Ricca Terra vineyards located in Barmera, the Jury Road site, which sits closer to Berri, was never on Ratcliff’s radar, especially given that it is even further from their Barossa home. The site was also not positioned ideally, being too far from their operations base, but the old vines, ancient grape-drying racks and particular mix of varieties made it appealing. Those points of interest, however, were also making the property almost impossible to sell, according to the local agent.
“We purchased the vineyard from Robert and Ruth Pech, whose family originated from the Barossa,” says Ratcliff. “Robert and Ruth wanted to retire. Generational growers in the region failed to see the value in the property, hence it struggled to sell. Ruth and Robert wanting to move on with their lives, and we were looking for something new, and a home to live in while in the Riverland, so we agreed on a price and the sale occurred.”
That property, which had been owned by the Pech family since 1939, was bought for a fair price in the market, but it’s a cost that would be unthinkable in almost any other winegrowing region, especially with such historic vines. “What captures my imagination and excites me about the future of the Riverland is its affordability!” declares Ratcliff. “During a visit by Patrick Sullivan and Bill Downie, both winemakers that Ricca Terra sells grapes to, I disclosed this story and the price we paid for the property. They were both in disbelief. Their response was, ‘How do we get a piece of the action in the Riverland!’”
Ratcliff sees this affordability of mature vines as one of the Riverland’s greatest assets, but it’s an opportunity that needs to be grasped before it is lost to the bulldozer. “The Riverland needs new people to rebuild its reputation and prosperity, and this will come from viticulturists and winemakers seeking the value of the region. There is no other wine region in Australia that offers young and aspiring people the opportunity to enter the wine game without taking on massive financial risk.”
And while he is eager for like-minded company in the region to rescue those soldier settlements, Ratcliff’s focus is to complete the task of rejuvenating his vineyard. “Our plan is to completely rework all the old vineyard over the next three years to establish it as Riverland premium old vineyard,” he says. “Our ultimate aim is to preserve as many old soldier settlement vineyards in the Riverland as possible by setting a clear example of their value. If the vineyards were located in the Barossa or McLaren Vale they would be highly sought after, not removed. The same should apply to the Riverland.”
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