History

With a passion for wine and vines Simon acquired land in 1980 in the upper end of the picturesque Steels Creek valley.

In 1981, he hand planted the front vineyard with Colombard, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.

In 1994 the back block was established with plantings of Shiraz and Chardonnay. Simon studied Viticulture and Winemaking at Charles Stuart University graduating in 1998.

Vineyard

Surrounded by native bush our property is home to a diverse range of insects, birdlife, plants and animals. For this reason we never use insecticides in the vineyard and now use under vine cultivation and hand weeding to suppress weeds. Irrigation is available if a dry season warrants support for the vines.

The vines are hand pruned and prunings mulched, returning organic matter to the soil, only organic fertilisers are used. Great wine begins in the vineyard and to this end significant work is undertaken in the vineyard to produce the finest wines. Attention to canopy management, shoot and crop thinning and constant attention to disease control. We selectively handpick our grapes ensuring only the best make it to the winery.

Winery

We make our wines on site from estate grown fruit using traditional winemaking techniques and minimal intervention. This includes adopting wild yeast ferments and minimal fining and filtering.

Small batch, whole berry ferments, in open fermenters for all our red varieties and in barrel for the Chardonnay. The Colombard is generally made in a stainless steel tank in order to maximise aromatics.

All our wines are made, matured and bottled in the winery - the smallest winery in the Yarra Valley completing all processes on site.