Our Koltz vineyard is located at at almost 200 metres in Blewitt Springs, which is the coolest and the highest sub-region of McLaren Vale and is dominated by sandy soils lying over ironstone and clay. Good drainage is assured as the vineyard is on the side of a small knoll. These distinctive characteristics, or terroir, produce wines of elegance, suppleness and soft velvety tannins.
The vineyard is hand pruned, shoot thinned early in the season and then fruit thinned at veraison. We aim for between 2 to 2.5 tonne per acre. All fruit is handpicked.
The vineyard is 21 years old, irrigation is used sparingly and 50% is dry grown. Cool nights throughout the vintage lengthen the ripening period and we pick two to three weeks after the rest of McLaren Vale.
The vineyard is 80% shiraz and we have recently grafted sangiovese and sagrantino onto the remainder.
The Eccolo vineyard, owned by Rob and Zof Bottin, is located at Balhannah in the Adelaide Hills which is at 400 metres of altitude. Soils are clay loam over shale on a sloping block with a north west orientation ensuring good drainage and fruit exposure. Extensive canopy management is practised with both shoot and fruit thinning . Yields are around 2.0 tonne per acre.
Blewitt Springs vineyard
