WE (CANDICE HELBIG AND FREWIN RIES) GROW OUR ARRANMORE VINEYARD PINOT NOIR, WHITE PINOT NOIR, ROSÉ, CHARDONNAY, AND GRÜNER FROM OUR BEAUTIFUL PROPERTY AT CAREY GULLY, ADELAIDE HILLS.
Candice: The “Arran” homestead and property dates back to 1859, so it’s the oldest in Carey Gully. We’ve been really lucky as the previous owner researched the history of the place and wrote it all down for an archaeology assignment, then gave us a copy. The dining room in our house now was the original two-bedroom cottage and we’ve still got the original chimney and fireplace from 1859.
Back then, it was all market gardens and fruit trees. I think they grew rhubarb and cherries, lots of fruit. I guess it’s always been fertile ground. There’s been sheep and cattle run here in the past, too.
The first acre of vines were planted in 1994 by John Venus, and we bought the property and took over in 2016. In our first year of ownership, we added Grüner but the rest of the vines remain. Our entire Arranmore property, including our vineyards and winery, has been fully NASAA Certified Organic since 2019.
Frewin: The vineyard was planted with virus-free Pinot Noir clones. We have two types of Pinot Noir — one is called D5V12, which was planted in 1994, and we have about an acre of that. Then, we have around three acres of a French cutting, a Dijon clone, and it’s been certified that it’s a virus-free 115 Pinot clone. This clone was planted in 2000. The Vine Improvement Group actually source their cuttings from us because our clones are so clean.
Our Grüner vines were grafted in 2016 using cuttings from a local grower and fifth-generational winemaker, Geoff Hardy of K1 Vineyard. We have eight rows of Grüner and another eight rows of Chardonnay, so both these wines are made in an extremely limited quantity.
Arranmore’s aspect, soil and the way that the air flows through the area is perfectly suited to grape growing. The site is perched quite high on the side of a valley, about 550m high. That valley feeds into the Onkaparinga Valley, meaning there’s a lot of air movement and airflow. That’s why Arranmore is such a cold place, because there’s always wind. That wind not only cools the air down but also dries things out – like how your washing dries really quickly if you put it out on a windy day. When the grapes are hanging there, the airflow dries out the bunches, so it’s really good for disease-pressure. It means that we can get away with spraying less.
Also, because it’s an east-facing aspect, the site catches the morning sun. The Arranmore vineyard will be in shade by 6.30pm or 7pm. So in summer, when it gets dark at around 9pm, the vineyard has already been tucked into bed for three hours, which makes it cooler again. All of that leads to more intense flavours and higher natural acidity. It’s like how the best apricots or cherries always come from a very cool site – it’s the same with grapes.
The soil here is a dark loam topsoil over a clay subsoil, with shale and ironstone bedrock. Our vines are dry-grown (which means we don’t water) so the roots are forced to grow deep down into the subsoil and bedrock to access water.
Our no-till approach also helps the roots push down deep. ‘No till’ means we don’t work the soil under the vines or in between the rows. So there’s always grass growing, dying and breaking down to create topsoil. It keeps the fungi and microorganisms in the soil alive, helps capture rainfall and prevent water run-off, and we believe it gives the fruit more complex flavours. That’s a big difference between us and other growers. Even other organic wine growers cultivate under the vine, ripping through the soil to break it up. We don’t do any of this, because we know grass is good.
C: Our vineyard is only 5 acres, but we noticed subtle differences within it and use them to our advantage. The Pinot Noir section of our vineyard is divided into five sections: three are dedicated to Red Pinot Noir, one for White Pinot and another for Rosé. Then we have our Chardonnay and Grüner Veltliner grapes in their own zones. Each section has very slight changes to the aspect and soil which perfectly suits the type of wine and ripening times, and we prune each of those sections a little differently too.
F: Since owning Arranmore, we’ve changed the trellis system from double cordon spur prune to a single cane – so one cane, one spur. This has given us more consistency through the canopy but with a lower yield of Pinot. So we’re aiming for more leaves per bunch, which will increase the solar panels that each bunch gets.
We’re also using a vertical shoot position system. So the vines are growing on four wires – one that the grapes grow on, that fruiting wire, and then there are three wires to keep the vines nice and straight and upright as they grow. That also increases the amount of sunlight that can get to the leaves, so it’s all about capturing that sunlight on the leaves and not directly on the fruit.
C: It’s a different connection living next to your own vineyard, being able to experience all the different stages the vineyard goes through. You feel very connected and have a real understanding of what’s going on when you’re living 50 metres from your block. You can watch as the weather rolls in and see how the seasons change the vines. Vintage is the best time because we observe the vineyard and taste the grapes every day throughout their ripening.
We love that it’s something we have from the very beginning, something that’s our own – we watch the vines go dormant and then experience the whole cycle through to fruiting. And then that turns into a wine that we could drink many years later..
Frew and I have always dreamed of having our own vineyard, but I don’t think we realised how amazing it would be until we moved here. We’d love to have a few more vineyards, too, so hopefully, it doesn’t end here.