Vignerons for over 40 years

Colin is the driving force behind the whole of Maggie and Colin’s farming enterprise.

Whilst Maggie is so passionate about taking the farm produce and making something delicious out of it;  it’s the fruits of the orchard and the olive grove that are her first love, though her delight in sharing a glass of Colin’s wine is as strong as Colin’s love of Maggie’s food.

‘I have penned these words as Colin hates to talk about himself and I’m his biggest fan.    So in a nutshell, Colin believes in minimalist intervention when it comes to grape growing and winemaking. It is about working with nature rather than hindering it.         When we first bought our property is 1973 we inherited some of the earliest Cabernet planted in the Barossa some 10 years previously and a block of this survives 50 years onwards.  Many of these years harsh with the ebb and flow of droughts all of us have experienced yet the vines are under drip irrigation using deficit irrigation techniques used to increase intensity of flavour and quality.

Our vines are in three sections of the Valley; the original ‘Farm’ property, our Vineyard at Siegersdorf and those on our Home block. We  have soils varying from loam over limestone to sandy loam over clay on the floor of the Valley. It's no secret that our most known variety of the Barossa is Shiraz and then possibly Cabernet, though now our plantings of Grenache, Mataro and Tempranillo give us what Col thinks is the best possible outcome for our climate and terroir .  Always learning particularly about how to leave the soil in a better state for the future, Col has planted hundreds and hundreds of native plants to attract beneficiary insects for the vines and rather than planting roses at the end of each row, a beautiful tradition in itself, his plan under way is to plant native Christmas bush at every row, not just for their looks of course, but also a great host plant for the beneficial wasps, spiders and insects that are great for the health of the vine.

Whilst Colin doesn’t make the wine himself he has a strong hand in working with the very talented Pete Schell definitely one of the ‘young guns’ of the Barossa winemaking fraternity and then from time to time chooses another favourite young Barossa winemaker to make an Eden Valley Riesling and always a surprise to come..

Come and taste his wines at the Farmshop for $10 per person.