“Lark Hill Vineyard sits at an unusually high and cold end of the Canberra District – almost 900 metres above sea level and with a seasonal easterly ‘sea breeze’ that cools off the summer afternoons dramatically,” says Chris Carpenter. “This site is too cold for some of the varieties that have put Canberra on the map – shiraz and viognier in particular, whereas early ripening varieties are perfect.”
That was worked out fairly early, with underperforming varieties, like shiraz and cabernet sauvignon, grafted over to more suitable ones. “Canberra is a fascinating district with great diversity in altitude, soil and therefore terroirs,” notes Carpenter. “One of the mistakes made in the 1990s was an effort to define each Australian wine region by one hero variety – shiraz in the case of Canberra.”
Sitting at a lofty 860 metres elevation, the vineyard is planted on depleted shale over clay soils to riesling, chardonnay, pinot noir and grüner veltliner. That last variety, Austria’s most important was one, was first planted by the Carpenters in 2004, making the first commercial varietal grüner in the country in 2009. That came about when Jancis Robinson MW suggested their site would be ideal for the grape after visiting the vineyard in 2002.
“One of the mistakes made in the 1990s was an effort to define each Australian wine region by one hero variety – shiraz in the case of Canberra.”
“It’s an incredibly picturesque vineyard – at times it can feel like we’re making wine on the rooftop of Canberra, high in the clouds – and it’s a very peaceful, calming place to work.”
“In 2009 we had just enough fruit to yield one barrel of juice – and as this was the smallest vessel I had for fermentation,” says Carpenter. “This results in a much more textured, complex style than a stainless steel fermented grüner (which is more common in Australia). The result was so harmonious with the fruit, and the style we wanted to make, that I’ve kept this winemaking technique on, despite the volume of wine growing.”
Stepping away from convention is nothing new for the Carpenters, who recognised even before they planted vines that the old approach of a monoculture needed to be rethought. “Lark Hill was purchased by my parents in 1976, and at that point it had no trees on the block – it had been stripped bare for grazing,” says Carpenter. “Visiting now, you’ll notice that there are windbreaks and a continual effort towards re-forestation, as well as biodiversity through native flowers and shrubs that support wildlife.”
They also recognised that the standard methodology of spraying chemicals to control weeds, pests and disease was not best practice, farming with organic principles since inception. In 2003, they attended an inspirational conference on biodynamics in Beechworth, where they met Nicolas Joly and James Milton, amongst others. That led to an almost immediate introduction of biodynamic farming methods, being officially in conversion from 2006 and fully certified (NASAA) in 2008.
“The vineyard is managed organically and biodynamically, with a pragmatic approach to these methods,” says Carpenter. “There has to be some evidence and solid foundation to the choices we make. We’ve also begun the process of having the vineyard certified sustainable, which brings a much wider scope of analysis into the vineyard activity, and also the greater business impact. …Onsite wastewater treatment, rainwater collection and composting of all organic matter, plus a lot of chooks, means we can close the loop on a lot of winery and cellar door inputs and outputs.”
All green waste from the broader farm, stable litter and all winery waste is composted onsite and spread across the vineyard to increase organic matter and carbon sequestration, reduce evaporation and increase nutrient levels. A mix of native grasses is left to grow in the mid-rows with no cultivation practiced. A complete exclusion fence was also installed in 2019 to boost biosecurity measures as well as to reduce grazing pressure on grasses and to mitigate crop loss from wildlife.
“Until 2021, our most consistent challenge has been sufficient water to support grapevines – with lots of work on composting, mulching, reduced yields and maximising the efficiency of what irrigation we could apply,” says Carpenter. “With ’21 and ’22 in the bag as some of the wettest years to date, and ’23 shaping up the same way, a whole new set of challenges has arisen with disease prevention and balanced growth in the vines.”
That challenge is one they are managing with a soft approach, avoiding the overuse of copper and sulphur, which are generally the key tools in the organic arsenal but can have negative impacts in concentration. Milk-based foliar sprays are now employed to limit the outbreak of downy mildew by stimulating beneficial fungi that restricts mildew growth.
That’s all in the aim of reducing inputs as much as possible, both in the vineyard and the winery. “Inputs are extremely limited,” says Carpenter. “That means that I can be more confident that the wines are very much defined by their site and vintage conditions – the juice isn’t adjusted or fined to change what the vines have created, and the wines are fermented using indigenous yeasts, so the yeast character is unique to each wine.”
The most obvious positive change from their viticultural methods has been measuring nutrient levels in the juice, says Carpenter. “This is a pre-ferment health check on the juice to ensure that the yeast can complete the ferment without running out of vitamins and minerals. The levels of YAN [yeast assimilable nitrogen] have doubled in the transition to our current viticulture style, which means that we do not have to add additional nutrients – this is a great indicator of health in the vines.”
Vine density has been increased with new plantings, with interplanting undertaken in older blocks where both row and inter-vine spacing was broad. “This doubled the vine density while maintaining the same crop per hectare, halving the crop load on older vines while maintaining the overall yield,” says Carpenter noting that the actual crop load will depend on the season, ensuring through pruning and management techniques that high-quality fruit can be sustainably achieved across all extremes of vintages.
“It’s an incredibly picturesque vineyard – at times it can feel like we’re making wine on the rooftop of Canberra, high in the clouds – and it’s a very peaceful, calming place to work,” adds Carpenter. “There is a section of the block that faces east and is extremely steep. We’ve always joked about re-creating some of the steep riesling vineyards of the Mosel down this precarious slope. It seems crazy to embrace such a challenge, but the sight would be worth it!” It may be said in jest but given the Carpenters’ willingness to go the extra mile, it’s one project more that just might yet be realised.
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