Wine is made in the vineyard. and right now McLaren Vale has the best vineyards in Australia. It also is home to a developing organic farming movement.

The township of McLaren Vale is the traditional home of grape growing and winemaking in the district.

The town is nestled between two rows of low hills consisting of ironstone and chalky rock with a thin covering of clay loam, this provides good drainage.

The soil is rich in calcium and is slightly alkaline where the soil meets the parent rock. Vineyards on the hill tops are world famous for Shiraz, which produce a very concentrated flavour and colour. The low hills catch the afternoon summer sunshine, ripening the fruit without fail. The thin soil has the ideal balance for the normally vigorous Shiraz, taming it and pushing every last drop of energy into the fruit.

Cheers,

Viticulture 101

Lazy Ballerina is named after a vine trellis...

Lazy Ballerina: named for a vineyard trellis system that acts like a solar panel to trap maximum, flavour boosting sunlight. It grows ripe, racey fruit showing up its rivals as silly lollies.

Organics: Lazy fruit is grown organically with only natural inputs. We haven't gone through certification yet but rest assured the wine will pass. Everything we have seen in farming tells us low input viticulture is the way to go. If you add too much artificial fertiliser or other products the vines reacted. Better to leave them alone and let them find balance.

Technique: The vines are 1654 clone Shiraz. They are hard pruned in winter, Regulated Deficit Irrigated (RDI) for maximum colour & flavour during the growing season then hand sorted and picked off the vine.