THERE ARE SOME QUESTIONS WE'RE ASKED FREQUENTLY.
WE MADE THIS PAGE TO MAKE IT EASIER TO FIND THE ANSWERS. HERE GOES:
DO YOU MAKE 'NATURAL WINE'?
'Natural Wine' is a somewhat ambiguous term (see next question). Our winemaking methods are simple and straightforward. The grapes are handpicked and wild fermented (with no addition of cultured yeast) and we don't use any additives in the process. The wine evolves by its own rhythm with the least possible intervention. If that's Natural Wine in your book, then yes, we make Natural Wine.
We call our wines Untamed Wines as we believe it gives good representation of the wine character and our winemaking manner. Wild Wines and Living Wines are also great terms that express this style of winemaking.
WHAT DOES 'NATURAL WINE' ACTUALLY MEAN?
There is no one definition for Natural Wine. Some put more focus on the winemaking methods, some on the farming practices. We quite like the description by the Italian Natural Winemaker Association VinNatur:
A new, different, exciting experience with which to retrieve the old value of nature and man’s work; this is the natural wine.
The natural wine comes from a minimal technological intervention in the land, in the grapes and the wine itself, without the use of chemical additives and man’s manipulations. These complex methods require a deep understanding and knowledge of both the vineyard and the winery.
The natural wine is produced in low rather than industrial quantities by an independent producer. The vineyards have low yield per plant and grapes are healthy and free of pesticides; lands are suited to the production of grapes which are harvested by hand with special attention to the integrity of bunches. The grapes do not undergo any chemical treatment nor weeding, no added sugar, enzymes or additives. The fermentations are spontaneous, without the addition of selected yeasts in the laboratory but only yeasts naturally grown in the vineyard; acidity adjustments are excluded as well as micro-oxygenation and reverse osmosis treatment.
They also made a cool little video that explains Natural Wine:
Sarah Wilson wrote a great post about Natural Wine with lots of good info. Check it out here.
IS YOUR FRUIT ORGANIC?
Yes. While not always Certified Organic, as from vintage 2016, all of our fruit come from vinyards who are managed by organic and sustainable farming practices (with no synthetic chemical sprays).
DO YOU USE SULPHUR?
We enjoy experimenting more and more with making drinkable wines without added preservatives. As of vintage 2016 all of our wines are sulphur free with no added preservatives during any part of the winemaking. With previous vintages, We added the minimum possible SO2 to some of our wines before they go into the bottle, the rest walk sulphur free.
DO YOU HAVE A CELLAR DOOR?
No. We're too small to have a cellar door! However, we would love to meet you! If you're around the Adelaide Hills and want to come and say Hi, don't hesitate to email us. We will try our best to make it happen. Also, please have a look at our [Events page][4] to see where we're hanging out and come along if you're in the neighbourhood!
WHERE CAN I GET YOUR WINE?
Directly from us - have a look at our current release and drop us a word with your order. We're currently working on setting up an online shop so stay tuned. We also put up an ongoing, ever expanding list of awesome places who support small wine producers like us with focus on Natural Wine where you can get our wine among others. check it out here.
I LOVE YOUR WINE BUT THE WEBSITE SAYS IT'S SOLD OUT. WHAT CAN I DO?
We make very little quantities of wine as we like being small, taking it slow and having a lot of fun in the process. It is seriously hard to make big quantities that way! But don't fret! First, [sign up to our newsletter][8], we will make sure you're the first to know about our new releases. Second, chances are some of [those places][9] have some stock left. Also, we know lots of other good winemakers who make wonders. If you like our wine please check the doing of our friends: Jauma, Gentle Folk, Scintilla Wines and Architects of Wine to name a few.
DO YOU SHIP/EXPORT OVERSEAS?
No worries. We adore curiosity. Shoot us an email with any question. We'll work out the answer for you.