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Eden Valley is one of the toughest places to have a vineyard. Bitterly cold winters, hot dry summers with cool nights, poor soils and frequent droughts. While tough on vines, this micro-climate produces great fruit. Limey Rieslings with steely acid, Raspberry and Cassis Cabernet and peppery Shiraz.
Viticulture is all about managing the vines for good balance. Restricting yields to levels that allow full maturity and flavour development. Healthy but not excessive canopies. Supplementary irrigation is available but used judicially in response to soil moisture monitoring.
Suzi and I both grew up on vineyards. I bought my first one when I was 17 years old. Smallfry is our reaction to the increasingly corporate wine industry. We want to stay small, maintain our hands on approach and produce wine that we would like to share with others.
Wayne Ahrens, Winemaker |
