“Without doubt the Adelaide Hills is a premium cool-climate wine region,” says Bowley. “When our vineyard was planned back in the late 1990s, a lot of thought was put into varietal and site selection. That planning is paying off now. Our shiraz is perfectly positioned to deliver an uncharacteristic but beautiful cool-climate wine. The west-facing aspect and elevated position provides exposure to the warmer afternoon sun for flavour and anthocyanin development.”
That shiraz took a significant hit when the Cudlee Creek bushfire ripped through the Hills in 2019, destroying vineyards, orchards and native bushland. Many of the Vinteloper vines were lost to the flames. The loss made a wine already maturing in barrel that bit more special. “From the extremely low-yielding 2019 harvest, we selected a section of vines for their concentrated yield to produce a small-batch, super-high-quality and age-worthy shiraz,” says Bowley. “Little did we know that bushfire would wipe out those vines as we knew them. So, immediately that wine became even more special.” Fire recovery remains the primary practical challenge: 95 per cent of our vines in each block were lost, and an extensive layering program – labour-intensive, vine by vine – continues to be the focus. “To manage it, you need day-by-day focus and attention to both the mother vine and the layer,” says Bowley. “Each one is unique and needs an educated set of eyes and hands.”
The site’s characteristics make it an unusually resilient place to farm. The altitude and position at the top of a gully ensures strong wind flow through the property, which Marrocco capitalises on through shoot thinning – the result being minimal fungal disease pressure across the season. The site is also frost-free, which allows the cultivation of early-budding varieties like gewürztraminer that would be exposed to risk elsewhere in the Hills. In the wet, mild spring of the 2026 growing season – characterised by repeated 10:10:24 events (at least 10mm of rain with temperatures staying above 10 degrees over 24 hours, creating prime downy mildew conditions) – the combination of site characteristics and timely preventative organic fungicide applications meant the vineyard came through without any disease presence. “This is a direct reflection that our regenerative farming practices are enhancing the resilience of our vineyard,” says Marrocco, “and gives me confidence in managing what unpredictable seasons climate change may bring us in the future.”
The decision to adopt organic farming practices was driven by social concerns alongside environmental ones. Vinteloper’s team is small – five full-time staff – with all members having young children. “Often our little ones accompany us onsite for native planting days, livestock checks and various daily operations,” says Marrocco. A tasting room has been established alongside the vineyard, increasing site visitation. The proximity to residential neighbours and the presence of families working and visiting the site made the reduction of chemical inputs a social as much as an ecological priority. Pesticides are not used on the property. Bowley quotes the American entomologist Carl Huffaker to explain the philosophy: “When we kill off the natural enemies of a pest, we inherit their work.” Biodiversity creates a natural balance of predation; pesticides create a reliance on further pesticides.
“When we kill off the natural enemies of a pest, we inherit their work.”
The evidence of that approach is visible across the property. Four sites are now dedicated to regeneration for biodiversity, with an emphasis on native grasses, bushes and trees to create habitat, alongside companion planting within the vineyard itself. Two resident wedge-tailed eagles now patrol the site; regular flocks of yellow-tailed black cockatoos visit. Full ground cover is maintained year-round in midrows and under vine, which has increased water-holding capacity, lowered soil temperatures and reduced reliance on drip irrigation. The Simonit & Sirch pruning methodology has been formally adopted, with visibly more even shoot growth and improved vine balance as a result. Solar power runs all electricity needs including the irrigation system, delivering an estimated 50 per cent reduction in power use and 33 per cent reduction in water consumption. Water supply draws on 100,000 litres of rainwater storage, reducing reliance on underground aquifers.
The remaining two-thirds of the property’s 30 hectares – currently grazed by livestock including a healthy flock of ewes – is earmarked for long-term regeneration. “These non-vineyard areas need to be managed and utilised in unity with the vineyard, not separate to it,” says Marrocco. Future plans involve extensive native revegetation of that non-vineyard land, and the development of the sheep flock into a multi-flock operation selling lambs as a supplementary income stream in lower-yielding years. Adelaide University agricultural science students are hosted three times per year as part of their compulsory industry placement, gaining hands-on experience in regenerative viticulture across harvest, pruning and shoot thinning. Marrocco also brings in oenology and viticulture graduates through the winter months – a period when travelling winemakers moving between hemispheres are often without work. “It allows these winemakers to remain in the industry and gain experience in a viticulture setting,” she says, “while Vinteloper receives the assistance of motivated and invested individuals and can partake in a knowledge exchange with recent graduates who are at the forefront of industry education.”
The Neonoir illustrates how closely vineyard management connects to stylistic outcome at Vinteloper. The first release in 2023 came from a long, cool growing season that produced high acids and vibrant fruit – perfectly suited to a young, fresh, chillable style. From subsequent vintages, a portion of the pinot noir block is now specifically managed for an early pick to retain natural acidity, with that batch forming the foundation of the Neonoir each year. “Our sense of terroir is developing each year post bushfire recovery,” says Marrocco, “with the implementation of regenerative farming and a return to soil health.” Annual benchmarking tastings reveal consistent site characteristics – natural acidity, vibrancy of fruit, fine tannins – that Marrocco attributes not to any single management technique but to the cumulative effect of all vineyard practices working in concert.
“Knowing your vineyard is the essential ingredient to making great wine,” says Bowley. “At a micro-level, interactions between flora and fauna have a very real impact on the outcome. We don’t see it as managing a vineyard – we are managing an ecosystem where our vines are the priority species.”
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