Our vineyard was first planted in 1985; a mere sole acre block of Cabernet Sauvignon.
When Col Walker and his wife Trish acquired the property in 1991, plantings increased. What started as one acre steadily increased to 15 acres by 1997, with further plantings of plantings of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Shiraz, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Semillon added.
Our vineyard is located in Borenore, which is 20km west of Orange CBD and sits on the northern foothills of Mount Canobolas at an altitude of 780 metres above sea level. The naturally cool climate of the Orange region provides us with a steady growing season, giving the fruit high natural acid allowing for gradual ripening. But our vineyards location also gives our vines adequate exposure to UV light, which aids the ripening process. The combination of these two factors gives our wines elegance and full-fruit flavour.
Our vineyard's altitude and aspect provides a varying mesoclimate, with the warmest part of the vineyard being the Cabernet block, which has a Mean January temperature (MJT) of 20.7°C, which is a similar to that of the central-western region of Bordeaux in France; one of the leading Cabernet regions in the world. The Pinot Noir and Chardonnay blocks are cooler, tending closer to 19°C.
The soil also plays a part. The combination of red basalt, decomposed limestone and gravel soils, adds minerality to the flavour of the fruit, while also providing good drainage and allows the fruit to naturally grow at small yields, further concentrating the flavour.
These combining factors give our wines the elegance, balance, texture and flavour that strongly hints to both our vineyard and spiritual home of these varieties. This is particularly apparent with our Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc, which we feel our vineyard provides a near-perfect growing environment for these varieties.
There are also plans to extend the plantings of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the near-future.