Viticulture

Great wine is made in the vineyard

We are meticulous in everything we do: from site, varietal and clonal selection to vineyard management and winemaking. A combination of organic methods, sustainable principles and the latest in technology create the ultimate balance for our vineyards and soils.

We take an individual approach to each and every vineyard block on our Estate. At every step of the way, we work with the ‘big picture’ in mind, acknowledging the characters that each block will contribute to the final wines.

We follow an intensive “hands on” vine management program in our vineyard – from hand pruning, shoot thinning, yield thinning and green thinning – everything is done with great attention to detail.

Organic Farming

In February 2018, we announced the organic conversion of 40ha of our vineyard, with plans to convert the remainder over the next three years. This means our Estate and all of our wines will be certified organic by 2023 by Australian Certified Organic.

We have followed a sustainable farming approach to our viticulture for many years. We focus on building a healthy and resilient vineyard through the use of natural products, building healthy soils and encouraging bio diversity such as 'good bugs' and cover crops. The “minimal input” methods that we use to nurture our soils, forces our vines to develop a stronger and deeper root system resulting in tougher more resilient vines that in turn produce grapes with thicker skins.

This means the fruit is more naturally resistant to disease and displays added layers of flavour, complexity and vibrancy.

Our approach to soil balance and nutrition was appraised by renowned French soil scientist, Claude Bourguignon in early 2018. Read our blog on his visit.

Climate

We are blessed with ideal climatic conditions; moderate temperatures with extremes of heat or cold; good rainfall between May and October; a dry growing and harvest period; plenty of sunshine during the ripening period but with cool evenings that helps with fruit flavour development and fresh acidity and sea breezes with the prevailing south westerly off the Indian Ocean acting like a giant air conditioner for our vineyards.

Uniformity

Within each of our vineyard blocks we aim to achieve uniformity, meaning every vine within a specific block will have the same number of buds at pruning, the same number of shoots and the same number of bunches.

The reason we are obsessed with uniformity is because it is a key driver of exceptional quality. If the grapes are able to ripen in unison, the parcels of fruit that are finally delivered to the winery will be exceptionally pure expressions of each block at optimal ripeness.

Five Vineyards

The original 1978 plantings are found on our Estate Block which surrounds our Cellar Door and winery but Michael Wright recognised the viticultural value of the surrounding land.

The five vineyards of Voyager Estate are all adjoining properties, and while each have their own nuances, they are all planted on well drained gravelly soils which produce fruit with purity, structure and balance.

The vineyards are; Voyager (founding Estate vineyards that are 40 years old in 2018), Broadvale, Ullingers, Weightmans and Cordis. Our single block wines are named based on the vineyards they are sourced, for example our V9 Old Block Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from Voyager Block 9, located in front of our Cellar Door and one of our oldest blocks.

Team Effort

Throughout the growing season, our winemakers and viticulturists work together to make sure that creating an exceptional wine is the common and achievable goal. There is an excellent level of understanding of the nuances of different vineyard blocks and selective harvesting for wine quality is carried out as required. Our decisions on harvest are based on extensive time spent in the field tasting the fruit rather than conducting juice analysis in the laboratory.

The maturity of the vineyard is beginning to produce some truly outstanding parcels of fruit which are recognised and valued by the team.