Winemakers and their grape growers
Published by Alison Hardy - 13th May 2021
Winemaking is truly a skill to admire. There’s a touch of magic that goes into crafting a bunch of grapes into delicious wine.
However, there’s another person in the winemaking process who deserves a spotlight – the growers. As an agricultural product, it’s the grower’s hard work and dedication throughout the year that significantly contributes to the bottle of wine that sits on your table.
They really are unsung heroes, so here’s winemaker Nigel Dolan from Dolan & Dunn to introduce his grape growers.
“Making wine is not always an easy pastime, but it works a lot better if you have an understanding and relationship with the vineyard you’re working with. I’m very fortunate to have now had a nearly thirty-year working relationship, and lifelong knowledge, of one vineyard – the iconic Metala vineyard of Guy and Liz Adams in Langhorne Creek.
Guy is a fifth-generation descendant of William Formby, who purchased the property in 1882, originally as a staging post for the Adelaide to Melbourne stage coach. In 1891 the first vines were planted on the property’s rich soils on the Bremer River floodplains. Now some 128 years later, amongst vineyards planted by subsequent generations, those original and venerable Shiraz vines still do their thing – quietly and confidently producing wines of their place and time.
The Metala vineyard, and the Langhorne Creek region, correctly prides itself on the Shiraz and Cabernet wines it produces, wines of character, structure and depth, but also of suppleness and elegance that intriguingly offer both immediate appeal and longevity.
Guy and Liz know all this, and quietly and confidently continue to go about nurturing their vineyard with a passion and understanding not quickly gained. We are indeed fortunate to share in this understanding and bring it to you in the form of our cheekily named Longhorn Peak wine.”
Nigel
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