Vinelea Wines

About

We are passionate about conservation, and the health of our land and the vineyard in particular. The care and attention taken to all vineyard work and winemaking results in high quality, intensely flavoured wine.

Location Description

Located in the heart of Beechworth, Victoria.

Additional Information

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The Team

Owned and managed by Stuart Smith & Rhonda Parish, a couple who studied science and worked in Melbourne in various technical and professional roles before moving to Beechworth in country Victoria for a life more in tune with the seasons.

Practices & Techniques

We bring a scientific approach to the vineyard management, mainly in that we observe and act where required and no more. We are extremely conservative with vineyard sprays using only the traditional Copper and Sulphur sprays to prevent mildew, and other simple chemicals only where absolutely necessary. Vineyard planting is at more than 1000 vines per acre and we rigorously shoot and fruit thin to ensure the vines are only carrying the crop they can ripen, and adjust these levels based on the weather each year. All vines are cane pruned as we have seen it produce more consistent crop levels than spur on this site. Trellis is VSP to allow for the best air and light exposure for the fruit. We are focused on long term vineyard health, and that means biodiversity and caring for the soil, so we are essentially following organic principles, with a strong focus on composting and ploughing to open the soil to moisture and air penetration. We have started with a healthy, clean site, and with careful management we are improving the soil and surrounding environment each year.

Our wine making philosophy is nothing new - in fact, that's the point; it's the way that the best of the European vignerons have been making wine for centuries - minimal intervention, clean healthy fruit, yeast from the vineyard, the best French oak that we can afford, long, slow maturation, minimal fining & filtering of the white wines and none for the reds. Stuart has been fortunate to work with Barry Morey and Ken Folkes at Sorrenberg vineyard, people for whom he has the highest regard and respect, and with whom he shares a similar philosophy on vineyard and winemaking practices.

Estate Vineyards / AVA

Our vineyard, established in 2006, is 3km NW of Beechworth township and sits in a horseshoe bend of Graveyard Creek, with a ridge line at 400m above sea level, and gentle sloping faces to both the north and south. The north aspect is noticeably warmer and ideal for Shiraz, while the south is cooler, more protected and better suited to the Chardonnay, Roussanne and Marsanne plantings.

The soil is fairly typical of the central section of the Beechworth GI - thin A-horizon, then highly decomposed buckshot gravel over clay. The subsoil has deep veins of clay streaked with coarse granitic source rock in the relatively early stages of decay. The geology is highly heterogeneous with common variation in the granite and numerous fine grained metamorphic intrusions - this is probably the origin of the Beechworth gold.

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Address

333 Malakoff Rd
Beechworth, Victoria 3747
Australia

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