Soil & Climate
The vineyard is located on the granite slopes of Mt Alexander at an altitude of 450 m and is named after the aboriginal word for this distinctive central Victorian landmark.
The climate is very cool (1250 degree heat summation days - similar to the Adelaide Hills) which means that a complex set of flavours flow into the berries over an extended period of time. This compares with Bendigo (1570), Yarra Valley (1250) and Bordeaux, France (1410) heat summation days.
Vines
The vineyard was planted in 1985 so the vines are mature.Vines are unirrigated and trained on the labour intensive Scott-Henry trellis system to ensure that fruit fully ripens. The vines are fully netted against birds, hand-pruned and the grapes hand-picked. The cool climate gives the complex intense flavours of a slow ripening period and the grapes are hand picked in mid-May. Organic methods are predominantly used in the vineyard and low yields are regulated.
Matt carefully controlled the quality of fruit in the vineyard because that is the biggest determinant of the end quality of the wine. Any bunches that are ripening later than the others are removed at veraison so that optimum flavours are achieved. A small proportion of fruit is also obtained from neighbouring vineyards.
Limited Production
Matt Hunter was the viticulturist and winemaker - controlling all aspects of quality in the vineyard and winery - a vigneron in the old sense of that word. Therefore production of the premium wines is purposely limited to 1500 cases per year and these wines are accepted by restaurants and customers at the premium end of the market.
See also Location for maps.