Our Holy Grail Vineyard
The Clos Block
‘The Clos’ pays homage to the ancient tradition of Sur Echalas plantings, the vines are planted 2 metres x 1.25 metres apart, which increased the vine density compared to a convention vineyard by 2.5 times. The Clos has 5,807 vines across 3.6 acres.
Planted in 2017 by our Viticultural Manager, Travis Coombe and his team, the block has two specific Shiraz clones. First, the ‘Prouse’ clone from Eden Valley and the second was the famous ‘Kalimna 3C’ clone from the Barossa floor. Situated on a relatively steep slope, the vines are planted across the hill, to help with erosion control, allow ease of spraying and it is easier to prune.
The échalas style must be managed by hand. From bud-burst, the vines are tied to the 1.8-metre stake, three times throughout the growing season until finally, the vines are joined together to the shape of a love heart. The shoots are then thinned and the crop is thinned to one bunch per shoot. Once the vine architecture is developed we have one bunch on a 1.5m to 1.8m shoot, allowing a large solar panel of leave for the bunch to achieve perfect maturity slowly and effortlessly.