The Wine Farm is where we grow the wine we want to drink and
the food we want to eat. It's where our kids get muddy, our dog
can howl without upsetting the neighbours and we can breathe.
Pétillant Naturel (or Méthode Ancestral) is the oldest method of producing sparkling wine, and the most natural. Unlike Méthode Champenoise, which involves the addition of refined sugar and sweetened wine at various stages of the process to control the bubbles and correct the final result, ‘pét-nat’ is a very risky business.
In this method, the grapes are pressed and the juice fermented until precisely the desired amount of natural sugar remains. The wine is then bottled and fermentation continues under crown seal until the yeast cells deplete the residual sugar. We walk a very fine line when deciding when to bottle – too early and the final product is too sweet or potentially so bubbly the bottle literally explodes mid ferment; too late and the result can be overly dry and flat. But when you get it right…
Pétillant Naturel has seen a bit of a resurgence in recent years. But while it’s great to see new players embracing old ways, the final products are a mixed bag. It’s become a bit of a thing within the industry that pét-nat should not be taken too seriously.
Naturally, we disagree.
MoreSubscribe
Turning fruit into wine is fraught with problems. There are hordes of bad bugs and yeasts out there waiting to infiltrate your cellar, get their claws into your juice and turn it into vinegar.
So how do you stop them? And without creating a host of new problems like headaches, breathing difficulties and worst of all, ho-hum wine…
More
A well made rosé should command as much respect as a decent white wine. Well, nearly. It should be dry, light in colour, smell of light bright berries with maybe a touch of dried herbs and a slight tannin tingle to finish. Delicious.
More
Good wine has great flavour. Great flavour comes from beautiful fruit. And beautiful fruit comes from a healthy farm. Conventional, organic, biodynamic… what is the best way to farm grapes?
More
With the first of our 2017 vintage ready to release, it’s time to offer up the fruits of our labour so you can decide for yourselves if you think our approach works.
Introducing The Wine Farm Chardonnay 2017.
More
We’re always talking about the importance of wines being allowed to show ‘place’ – keeping the fruit pure to let it express the soil in which it grew. So given we’re very nearly ready to share the first of our 2017 wines with you, we thought we should tell you a bit about our place first. What’s so special about The Wine Farm?
More
Buying an existing vineyard without really knowing its potential is something you could lose a lot of sleep over.
More
Great wine is the sum of hundreds of decisions from vineyard to bottle. As the ‘maker’ all I do is try to make the best decision I can at any particular point in time.
MoreWe are gradually releasing our 2017 vintage (and a few we've been saving from previous vintages) to our mailing list. Subscribe to Letters from The Wine Farm to be the first to hear about new releases at subscriber prices and build your own case of 6 or 12.
If you can't wait perhaps our sample pack may quench your thirst...
More
In 2014, having fallen for the region in general and the potential of its grapes in particular, we took the biggest plunge so far. We poured our joint worldly effects into a small patch of dirt down the road. An unassuming address we thought might just have everything we needed to start creating our own little world. Good soil, eight thousand vines, a great big shed and lots of bedrooms to fill.
More
The worker’s cottage on the property is available for short stays. Bring some friends, check out the region and its spoils and soak up The Wine Farm.
More