South Australia Archives - Page 3 of 8 - Young Gun of Wine

Koonara – Head Honcho Vineyard, Coonawarra

Dru Reschke’s Koonara property includes a block of 30-year-old cabernet vines that go to making his flagship wine, with the site, and wine, aptly dubbed Head Honcho. Those vines turn out modest yields of tiny super-concentrated and pristinely healthy grapes. Reschke describes the site as having “zero pest and disease pressure” due to his nuanced regenerative agriculture that sees the vineyard filled with native flowers, beneficial wasps and kaleidoscopes of butterflies. His approach is focused on building organic matter, increasing water-holding capacity and sequestering carbon through an innovative approach that employs cutting-edge technology to assess nutrient and mineral density and vine health.

Kalleske – Johann Georg Vineyard, Barossa Valley

The Kalleske family property, in the Barossa Valley subdistrict of Moppa, is one of great historical significance. Settled in 1853, the legacy is one of grazing, broadacre farming and grape-growing, with the oldest shiraz vines on the property some 148 years old – some of the country’s oldest. That 1.2-hectare vineyard of Ancestor vines carries the name of one of the property’s founders, Johann Georg, and it fittingly makes the Kalleske flagship wine of the same name. All the Kaelleske vineyards have been biodynamically certified for 25 years, with the celebrated eponymous wine label, made by Troy Kalleske, just on 21 years old this year. Kym Kalleske farms the vines, working 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.

Kaesler Vineyard, Barossa Valley

The Kaesler Vineyard is in the heart of the Barossa, just outside the town of Nuriootpa. Originally planted in the late 19th century, since 1999 the old and ancient vines have been turning out premium and ultra-premium wines under the Kaesler label. The vineyard has been managed by Nigel van der Zande for over two decades, with his methods evolving down an increasingly sustainable and regenerative line, with a key focus on increasing carbon sequestration. Those processes have resulted in the fruit coming off the vineyard achieving desirable flavour and tannin ripeness at lower sugar levels, and the vines have demonstrated increased resilience in combatting extreme climatic conditions.

Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard

Viticulturist Michael Lane is perhaps best known for his work at McLaren Vale’s Yangarra Vineyard, but he is having an equally important impact on the 67 hectares of vines on the Hickinbotham site, which sits in the Vale’s Clarendon subzone. That vineyard was first planted by Alan David Hickinbotham over 50 years ago and has been a significant source of high-quality fruit to iconic wineries, though it was not until California’s Jackson Family bought the site that estate wines were released less than a decade ago. Those wines all sit in the premium category, from a shiraz though three Bordelaise varietal wines and the flagship, ‘The Peake’, a homage to the Australian blend of cabernet and shiraz. The vineyard is due for biodynamic certification in 2023.

Tapanappa – Foggy Hill Vineyard, Southern Fleurieu

There are few people who have positively influenced the Australian wine industry as much as Brian Croser has, from instituting winery best practices to pioneering wine styles to education and the exploration of untested vineyard areas. One of those sites is in the elevated cool and wet maritime climate of the Fleurieu Peninsula, buffeted by the Southern Ocean and isolated from a wine-growing community and ready labour. But the Foggy Hill site is one that Croser thought would make exceptional, characterful pinot noir based on climate and soil data, that it would become a truly “distinguished site” to add to the Tapanappa roster.

Cassini Vineyard, Kangaroo Island

Nick and Bec Dugmore’s The Stoke label is their love letter to Kangaroo Island. It’s naturally a canvas for their considerable winemaking talents, but it also embodies a very serious quest to show just what exciting vinous territory KI is. With the steep decline in grape-growing on the island, taking on their own site was a natural progression, enabling them to make wine from the ground up with a regenerative approach amongst the vines. Now responsible for most of the fruit going to The Stoke and Guroo labels, as well as for some up-and-coming makers, the isolated 4.2-hectare Cassini Vineyard is being nurtured into the health of its life through the hard work of Nick and his father, Max.

Bon View Vineyard, Barossa Valley

The Bon View Vineyard has been in family hands since it was first planted in the 19th century. Those original shiraz vines still make wine today, though the bulk of the vineyard was planted in the 1960s by current viticultural custodian Ralph Schrapel’s father and grandfather. With the farming practices evolving over the generations to a less interventionist and more balanced approach that centres on soil health and water management, the fruit is pitched towards the premium and ultra-premium end. A four-decade-long collaboration with Peter Lehmann Wines means good homes for that juice, filling bottles such as the legendary ‘Stonewell’ Shiraz and ‘Mentor’ Cabernet Sauvignon.

Ricca Terra – 171 Jury Road Vineyard, Riverland

The 171 Jury Road Vineyard entered the Ricca Terra stable in late 2020, and interestingly it is not built around the warm-climate Mediterranean varieties that Ashley Ratcliff has become famous for. Rather, it is a celebration of ‘heritage’ varieties that were largely planted by returned servicemen and women who were granted land when they returned from both World Wars. Out of step with the highly mechanised bulk wine production that the region has become synonymous with, the vineyards are seen as liabilities by most, but Ratcliff saw other possibilities and set about resurrecting the old vines with an eye to producing premium wines that honoured the history of their origin.

Koonara – Head Honcho Vineyard, Coonawarra Dru Reschke