Seppeltsfield Road links our Marananga winery, Cellar Door, Coach House & Holy Grail vineyards, referred to by Barossa locals as “The Avenue of Hopes and Dreams”. It is magnificently lined with 100 year old date palm trees.
The philosophy applied to our estate vineyards is inspired by a seminal French producer from the Rhone Valley – to not own every vineyard, but to own the best. Time, patience, extensive soil studies and viticultural research have allowed our team to establish what we aspire to be one of the ultimate vineyards of Barossa ‘The Holy Grail’.
A chance conversation provided Michael with the opportunity to consolidate Two Hands’ vineyard holdings on Seppeltsfield Road, taking us to 900m of frontage along the gateway to the Western Ranges of the Barossa Valley. The Holy Grail vineyard, is a viticulturist’s dream: 15 acres of 18 year old Shiraz, adjoining our existing 70 acre block which was ready for planting in 2016. With its rich red-brown earth, strong clonal selection, and eastern sloping aspect.
With a vast array of soil depths and types through the site, careful consideration has been placed on selecting a diversified range of Shiraz clones to optimise viticultural development across the property. Through the depths of winter 2015, the Two Hands winery team were out with snips in hand, taking 40,000 cuttings from some of the great vineyards in the Barossa, Clare and Eden Valley regions. The clonal diversity creates interest on the palate once the vines reach maturity, designed to take us away from the 1654 clone that was so widely planted across South Australia in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
When you walk a great vineyard, you look and consider a vine’s architecture, the bunch configuration, you feel the soil and you immediately sense greatness. The Holy Grail vineyard is a viticulturist’s dream.
2016 is when the real fun began. Deep ripping of the vine rows to prepare the soils for planting, as well as irrigation and trellis installation. In September 2016, the mammoth task of vine planting began, with a grand total of over 60,000 vines planted over two years.
Holy Grail Vineyard is planted east to west which allows the bunch zone of our vines to be shaded by the harsh afternoon summer sun. If we had chosen to plant our rows North to South, the bunches would have a high chance of being burnt in the middle of the ripening period, which would see fast and furious ripening, rather than slow and consistent which allows true phenolic ripeness of the whole bunch, which is key to the quality wines we strive for
Each of our estate vineyards are cane pruned to reduce the risk of the fungus infection Eutypa Lata, and also assists the vines to survive our warm summers. Cane pruning, and pruning our Sur Echalas blocks and contoured bush vines must be done by hand in order to choose the most robust cane to grow new shoots for the next vintage. Our Holy Grail Vineyard is also trained and picked by hand to minimise tractor movements and avoid soil compaction.
We are proud to be custodians of the best viticultural land within the Western Ranges of the Barossa Valley and work tirelessly to grow the best fruit year in and year out, working with the seasons to produce incredible fruit. With additional fruit from our other estate vineyards Kraehe House Block in Marananga next to our Cellar Door and winery and the famous Coach House Block in Greenock. The combination of our existing blocks and new developments provides a fascinating contrast and will provide an enormous source of fruit styles for the winemaking team to work with as the vines mature over the years ahead.
We acknowledge the Ngadjuri People who are the traditional custodians of this beautiful part of the world, as well as the Kaurna and Peramangk people who border this land. We acknowledge and thank the Elders, past, present and emerging for their deep and ongoing connection to Country.
