The pair manage three vineyards across two properties – two kilometres apart – in the Adelaide Hills, along with running Scottish Highland cattle, sheep and chickens, along with extensive biodynamic vegetable gardens, with the produce sold to top Adelaide restaurants and the public. The holistic approach also sees 80 per cent of their power needs coming via solar, while they have an ongoing program to return clear-felled parts to native bushland, having planted up to 1,500 trees every year since 2008.
“Ngeringa is at the base of the Mount Barker Summit, an ancient place steeped in culture and lore. The afternoon ocean breezes cool the vineyard, preserving flavour, acids and complementing the warmer, ripening mornings.”
“There is a distinct character that shines regardless of vintages, that we recognise now as our terroir. It’s a flavour profile, a vitality of character that can only be from a vineyard in full health. As the vineyard has matured and the roots have reached deeper levels, that expression has become more complex. Our Single Vineyard ‘Summit’ Chardonnay is a great example of this as a well-structured wine with a strong, acid/mineral line with an intensity and depth that seem to still be increasing.”
“As a vineyard in the Mount Lofty Ranges, we are in one of Australia’s biodiversity hotspots,” says Klein. “We therefore have the obligation to value our diminished native environment, to return our farm to as much native health as possible and to be satisfied that each wine and each food we produce contributes to the health of our community and our landscape.”
The 2-hectare Summit Vineyard, which sits at around 360 metres, is planted to chardonnay, pinot noir, syrah, fiano and pink semillon. That last variety is indeed semillon as we know it, but the pink hue of the skins is the result of a natural mutation in the Madeira clone. It is thought that the vines that produce this mutation were originally sourced from South Africa, but it was isolated and propagated in the South Australia in the mid-90s, though very little is planted.
The Summit Vineyard is dense by Australian standards, with 6,600 vines per hectare, which creates competition between the vines and means the grape bunch microclimates are generally cooler. The vines are also planted with an east to west orientation, which ensures less harsh sun exposure, while cool breezes further moderate conditions as they filter up from across the ocean and Lake Alexandrina. Those breezes are most influential around key ripening times.
“Ngeringa is at the base of the Mount Barker Summit, an ancient place steeped in culture and lore,” says Klein. “The tops of our slopes look out over the Murray Mouth in the distance, and in return, the afternoon ocean breezes cool the vineyard, preserving flavour, acids and complementing the warmer, ripening mornings.”
Naturally, no synthetic chemicals have ever been used by the family in their over 30-year occupancy of the land. Instead, biodynamic preparations and compost – made on site – are used to build resilience in the soil and vines. The Integrated Pest Management plan involves companion planting in and around the vineyard with native species to attract beneficial insects, as well as promote biodiversity. Chickens roam the rows snacking on pests, while sheep graze in winter to keep grasses down and cycle nutrients back into the soil. Biochar is also applied to the soil, which aids carbon capture, moisture retention and soil microbial health.
“The beauty of wine is that it is part of a global culture with roots in traditions and history,” Klein says. “Yet wine can be reflective of a very specific, local place… a vineyard which is part of a local culture, where the winemaker and their crew, devote time and hope in each vine for the wine of the coming season. Our vineyard is such a place, where we want the soil alive and diverse and the vines radiating optimal health. We want it to sit within and be a part of our native Australian environment, to be part of a natural balance. This is inspiring. It inspires us, and it inspires others.”
That inspiration is fostered by running community and school days to revegetate the local environment while educating, but many others actively seek them out to be a part of the process. “We are a small, humble operation,” says Klein. “However, our choice of farming inspires like-minded people to be part of what we do – from international backpackers who specifically find us or have heard of us to wonderful local ecologically-conscious people.”
And while the Klein’s vision is a local program with an eye to the global environment and human health through natural farming, their vineyard focus is also one with an unwavering focus on the quality of the wine Klein makes in their simple straw-bale winery. “Everything we do in and to the vineyard is deliberate, with the intention of maximising the quality of our wine – from closely planted vines, to our organic/biodynamic practices, to our native midrow wallaby grasses and the meticulous shoot thinning and green pruning,” he says.
Over the years, the reflection of their site character in the wines has only become clearer, and Klein believes it is an expression of both location and farming. “There is a distinct character that shines regardless of vintages, that we recognise now as our terroir,” he says. “It’s a flavour profile, a vitality of character that can only be from a vineyard in full health. As the vineyard has matured and the roots have reached deeper levels, that expression has become more complex. Our Single Vineyard ‘Summit’ Chardonnay is a great example of this as a well-structured wine with a strong, acid/mineral line with an intensity and depth that seem to still be increasing.”
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