Vineyards

The close relationship between Winemaker and Vineyard owners means that only the very best goes into making these wines.

The fruit for Songlines, Bylines and Leylines Shiraz comes from the McLaren Vale, one of the oldest and best established of the wine growing regions of South Australia. Shiraz vines here vary in age from 40 to 110 years old and have in the past provided grapes from some of Australia’s finest wines. However, the uncompromising selection of individual vineyards means this is the first time their grapes have been assembled as a single wine.

McLaren Vale

McLaren Vale’s unique location, with a warm Mediterranean climate cooled by the Southern Ocean, is the foundation for Songlines. Combine this with the area is diversity of quality viticultural soils, altitudes and aspects, and you have Shiraz fruit with amazing depth of intensity and purity of fruit.

The quality of the fruit is also a direct reflection of the pride and experience in producing premium grapes of several dedicated McLaren Vale vignerons. It was the Songlines team respect for these vignerons and their sites that led them to believe that McLaren Vale Shiraz can rival that of any of the top wines produced anywhere in the world.

The vineyards are unirrigated and all yields are below 2 tonnes to the acre, and in the case of Sand Road and Willunga Road, less than 1.5 tonnes per acre. All blocks are pruned by hand and all picking is done by hand.

The Winemaker’s intimate knowledge of the growers and their vineyards is essential and he visits at least once a month during the year and every week during vintage. Careful organisation during harvest allows them to pick not vineyards but rows or even vine by vine to ensure optimum harvest time for all fruit.