The Home of Pinot Noir only minutes from Geelong
CELLAR DOOR OPEN
FIRST WEEKEND
OF EVERY MONTH
Dry Grown
The Rowsley Fault Vineyard is purposely dry grown and does not receive any supplementary irrigation. The primary reason we do this is to allow the vineyard to express its true terroir or “sense of place” denoting the special characteristics that the geology, geography and climate bestows on the vineyard. In Europe irrigation is often forbidden, simply to ensure that the wines produced are totally about the vintage variation and the region where they grow and produce, not about man-made intervention.
Not many new world vineyards have the courage to use dry-grown viticulture. To achieve dry grown irrigation in Australia, the one over-riding consideration is of course water. At Rowsley Fault Vineyard we deep ripped our total vineyard area to 1.5 metres to allow the newly planted vine root systems to quickly find the underlying water table. In addition, we used black plastic mulching to keep down weed competition in the early years, allowing the vines to get a strong head start in their quest for water and nutrients. Our vines are now more than three meters deep and for this reason have survived the drought conditions seen over the last decade in the area.
Our vines are now well over ten years old and have survived severe heat and low rainfall conditions in recent years and are now quite hardy and drought resistant. This has resulted in deep rooted vines with fruit that has small berries, thick skins and thus marked concentration in aromatics, flavours and varietal character.
The perfect fruit for classic, high quality and true to varietal wines!!