Cannibal Creek Vineyard

About

Just like the slow food movement, the Cannibal Creek Wine Movement embraces a philosophy of living well by treating real food and wine with the time and effort they deserve. It means producing wine that respects the terroir; a unique place, a unique moment in time. Wines with terroir tastes like nothing but themselves. That is what we do, make wines that respect and reflect our terroir. Already, the Cannibal Creek Movement is about much more than wine - right now it includes our ventures into clay ovens. Our vision is to create a community of friends and customers seeking to celebrate the natural way of doing things regardless of time, cost, fashion or convenience. It's all about getting real.

Location Description

Cannibal Creek Vineyard is located in the foothills of the Black Snake Ranges in the West Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia.

Features

  • A Boutique Australian Winery.

Additional Information

  • Meeting / Conference Facilities:
  • Caves:
  • Wedding Facilities:
  • Picnic Facilities:
  • Dog Friendly:
  • Winery Tours:
  • Wine Tasting:
  • Art or Architecture:
  • Organic / Biodynamic:
  • Awards:
  • Wine Club:
  • Lodging / Bed & Breakfast:

Winemaker

Patrick Hardiker is the winemaker and viticulturist Kirsten Hardiker acts as assistant to both these roles and is sales manager. Pat's background was in the building industry and is a self taught winemaker and viticulturist.

History

Cannibal Creek Vineyard was originally a dairy property bordering Cannibal Creek. Cannibal Creek (a tributary of the Bunyip River) formed the Eastern boundary of the block and it seemed right, due to the interesting history of the creek's name, to call the property after the creek. The story goes that the original pastoral selection of Crown land in 1846 was called “The Connabul Run” after the first lessees of the land. Over the years the name was corrupted to Cannibal and first appeared on local maps in the late 1890's. The name, however, invariably induces much wild speculation!

Practices & Techniques

The vineyard is sited on an area of Devonian Granodiorite (Granite) and Granite clays giving rise to a natural soil profile of grey sandy silt, overlying silty granite clays. The origin of these soils is Quartz. (silt is a granular material somewhere between the size of sand and clay).This granite is quarried in and around Tynong and is the same stone used to build the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne.

Granite soils tend to be acidic and it has been shown in these types of soils that the grapes themselves can lack acid. This influences the approach to our viticulture and winemaking and the wines themselves. We believe our granite soils are responsible for the mineral and flinty characters of our wines, both in our reds and whites.

In recent years we have had our soils biology and chemistry done and have identified specific nutrients and microbes which were lacking or low in numbers. To make these adjustments we are applying biodynamic compost teas and a mixture of seaweed and fish emulsion to the soils, this boosts the microbal population and aids in restoring the soils back to optimun health. This also allows the transaction of nutrients between the soil and the vine to work more efficiently. The trace elements required are applied by foliage sprays. The plants are absolutely bristling with life!! This has been a great learning curve for us and our understanding of our soils health and how the vines interact with the soil in the exchange of nutrients and the importance of microbial health has been very much enhanced.

The vineyard has a northerly aspect with rows running north-south. It is positioned on a gentle slope at neither the bottom nor top of the hill. The land Cannibal Creek Vineyard is situated on is in the valley catchment for Cannibal Creek itself and is colloquially known as Tynong Valley, the land has always been considered very good farming country. The geographical attributes of the site coupled with our microclimate and soil types all contribute to create the terroir…all the natural attributes of any particular site. Situated at S 38° ~ E 145° with an elevation of 102m above sea level and fourteen daylight hours during the growing season, makes the site an ideal cool climate vineyard.

Estate Vineyards / AVA

Consisting of 100 acres, the family bought the farm from the last dairy farmer in 1988. The property was no longer a viable enterprise for a dairy farm and on purchasing the property Terry and Kath Hardiker ran beef cattle for many years until the decision was made to plant a vineyard. Pat and Kirsten returned from Western Australian in 1997 and together they planted 9 acres of vines 4 acres of Chardonnay and 5 acres of Pinot Noir and the following year put in another 3 acres made up of Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The land Cannibal Creek Vineyard is situated on is in the valley catchment for Cannibal Creek itself and is colloquially known as Tynong Valley, the land has always been considered very good farming country. The geographical attributes of the site coupled with our microclimate and soil types all contribute to create the terroir…all the natural attributes of any particular site. Situated at S 38° ~ E 145° with an elevation of 102m above sea level. 14 daylight hours during the growing season makes the site an ideal cool climate vineyard. The soils are sandy clay loams with a high proportion of granite which we attribute the flinty mineral characters in our wines. This granite is quarried in and around Tynong and is the same stone used to build the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne.

Be the first to review this item!

Hours

Mon - Sun: 11:00 am - 5:00 pm.

Address

260 Tynong North Rd
Tynong North, Victoria 3813
Australia

Get Directions

Advertisement
Newsletter