The Vineyard

Planting

Initial plantings were in the winter of 2000, consisting of 1.8 ha of Gingin / Mendoza clone low yielding Chardonnay and 1.3 ha of Heytesbury clone Cabernet Sauvignon.

In 2001 0.6 ha of Pinot Noir was planted, being a mix of droopy clone and two Burgundian varieties to add complexity to the wines produced.

2004 saw a planting of a further 0.8 ha of Gingin / Mendoza clone.

This was followed in 2005 by the addition of 0.6 ha of Chardonnay Burgundian clones 76 and 95, which are both high quality, low yielding varieties to add further complexity to the wines produced.

The same year 0.5 ha of Rousanne, a fairly rare white Rhone variety in Australia was planted. This produces a light perfumed white wine often combined with Chardonnay in the Rhone region.

Grape Variety	2000	2001	2004	2005
Chardonnay	1.8 ha		0.8 ha	0.6 ha
Cabernet	1.3 ha
Pinot Noir		0.6 ha
Rousanne				0.5 ha
Total	3.1 ha	0.6 ha	0.8 ha	1.1 ha

Irrigation

The vines are planted 1.5m x 3m apart and are irrigated when young, reducing the irrigation as the vines age. Minimal amounts of irrigation are used on older vines.

Yields

Yields in the Cabernet vines are held to 5 tonnes per hectare by bunch thinning to produce maximum flavour.

The Chardonnay grapes are trained on a VSP (vertical shoot positioning) trellis and yield 6 tonnes per hectare.