OUR story so far…

We are Adriana and Al – organic grape growers and winemakers at Bandicoot Run, our little farm in West Gippsland, Victoria.

Bandicoot Run was born out of the desire to work more closely with nature and the ebb and flow of the seasons. Established in 2017 with the expansion of the half-acre vineyard on Al’s family property, we now farm 3 hectares of vines, organically and with a focus on biodiversity and building healthy soil microbiology.

The property was purchased in the early 90’s – part of a subdivided dairy farm and bare of much diversity of life except for a handful of gnarly old eucalypts in the back paddocks. This quickly changed with thousands of endemic species established across the property over the next couple of decades, creating shelter belts and habitat for bird and animal life which returned to the property soon after and continue to do so in increasing numbers each year.

Not all the plantings were indigenous however – such as the fruit tree orchards or the few short rows of Syrah that were planted by Al’s father in 2005 and then several more rows of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the years following.

We became interested in the vineyard while we were studying architecture from 2010-2015, spending our summers amongst the vines and getting our mates down to help out with the modest harvest each year. After a couple years working in architecture we decided that we wanted to make a lifestyle change that supported our values, many of which we had gained from our interest in regenerative and sustainable design, and pursue organic farming and winemaking instead. A few years of working in wineries and vineyards on the Mornington Peninsula and we were completely captivated and decided to expand our little home vineyard with four new blocks, which were established in the spring of 2017.

The majority of the new vineyard is planted out to Pinot Noir (7 different clones) with the remainder made up of Chardonnay, Syrah, Viognier and Tempranillo. We live and work on the property, with the winery shed and house all within meters of the vineyard and integrated with the orchards, veggie gardens and native vegetation plantings which extend like fingers between the vineyard blocks. These plantings create connections for our indigenous species, especially our population of endangered Southern Brown Bandicoots, which have visibly thrived since establishing the vineyard.

We also share the 50 acre property with our animals, most importantly our dog, San, but also our breeding herd of Hereford cows, three cheeky sheep, chickens, ducks and several beehives. We’re also planning to get some more sheep into the vineyard in the future to help keep the grass down over winter and contribute to the system.

We had decided from the beginning that we wanted to farm our site organically and in the most regenerative way possible, as this is a core belief and something important to our world view. This amounts to a lot of meticulous (and often backbreaking) manual work in the vineyard but we feel that if we put care and love in, it will be reciprocated. And so far it has, with our first few wine releases being full of life and expression.

Every aspect of the farming of the site is completed by us, with attention to detail being extremely important. Being very much a two person band means that days spent outside the vineyard are a rarity, but it also means that we have come to intimately know and understand our vines and we are continuing to learn about our site each and every day.

This philosophy also extends to the winemaking, with fruit being hand picked in the cool of the morning, processed without additives, left to undergo natural fermentation and finally bottled by hand on site, unfined and unfiltered with only a small amount of sulfur. We are also making some zero sulfur wines each year, often single barrel (or ceramic egg), such as the “Minetta” wines which come off our older vines.

THE VINES

Our property is located on alluvial soils which are comprised of fertile loamy topsoil sitting over layers of silt and sand with fragments of granite gravel scattered throughout, which is sitting over deep yellow and grey clay - basically a composite sample of the decomposed hillsides which surround us.

This composition of different elements means that the soils are extremely nutrient dense and give the vines everything they need to thrive. The clay layer in the soil also has excellent water holding capabilities which means once the vines are established and their roots are deep down into that clay, they are very resilient over the warmer months.

As well as being farmed organically, we are also focusing on building healthy soil microbiology and soil food web through regular application of compost tea sprays and other organic nutrients with the intention of getting our vines as healthy as possible to increase their natural disease resistance and fruit quality. We have never sprayed or cultivated the soil under vine, preferring a constant sward to exist so the soil structure is maintained and insects and other organisms are able to flourish.

We are inland enough to have the benefit of cool nights, with good diurnal shift but also regularly get the benefit of afternoon sea breezes over summer, which contributes to slow ripening of our cool climate varietals.

The technical stuff:

We have 5 separate vineyard blocks on the property.  Our first block was planted between 2005-2009, containing Syrah, Chardonnay and MV6 Clone Pinot Noir.

The remaining 4 blocks were planted in 2017 and contain 7 clones of Pinot Noir (MV6, 777, Pommard, D5V12, 115, ENTAV 667 & 828), Chardonnay (E95, I10V5 & ENTAV 548), Syrah (EVOVS12 & R6WV28), Viognier and Tempranillo.

the WINES

The overriding principle in our winemaking is integrity. This means that we want to produce authentic wines that are a true expression of the growing season, the land and the people who made them. It sounds sounds like a cliché but it is true. We understand that great wines come from high quality fruit and as such most of our efforts are concentrated on the vineyard, with comparatively little done in the winery in terms of intervention. This mostly amounts to making decisions which allow the fruit to best express itself, such as vessel selection or maceration duration.

Our winemaking shed is located directly next to our vineyard, which means the fruit is hand picked in the cool of the morning and processed within a few hours without ever having travelled more than a hundred meters from the vines.

All our fermentation is completed with the natural (indigenous) yeasts from our vineyard and we do not make any additions to the wine, except for a small addition of sulfur prior to bottling (generally 20ppm) and we have also been making a small amount of zero sulfur wines each year. We aim to handle the wine as gently as we can, with gravity being used whenever possible and most ferments being completed in open-top vessels and then manually basket pressed to either barrel or tank. We have generally found that a ratio of 50/50 well seasoned oak barrels to stainless tank for élevage to be an ideal balance for most of our wines, lending some subtle warmth and oxygen from the oak, without being too present and freshness and energy from the stainless tank portion.

We also do not use any filtration or fining on our wines and prefer to let the wines naturally settle, before they are bottled, labelled and waxed by hand on site. Our wines are bottled under cork and we use a natural beeswax seal on top.

WREN KNIVES

Al has been hand crafting knives for about 5 years from his workshop at Bandicoot Run. Each knife is completely unique and one of a kind, with production being extremely small as it is mainly constrained to the off-season (over winter).

Currently the blades are made from either 1084 high carbon steel or 12C27 stainless steel and handles are made from salvaged Australian hardwoods.

We have currently uploaded a small selection of knives available for purchase alongside the wine on our webstore.

If you are interested in having a custom knife made, give @wrenknives a follow on instagram or contact us through the email listed below.

CONTACT

For sales and inquiries please contact Al and Adriana via:

wine@bandicootrun.com.au