The French call it terroir, in Italian it’s terreno, to us it’s our land. These terms, out in the country, have always meant more than just a plot of ground or boundaries defined on a map. Our land defines what we can grow, and how we can grow it, in many different ways.
Our land is our climate, the strong westerlies that bring cold fronts from the Southern Ocean, and abundant rain that is as clean and upolluted as can be had in Tasmania.
Our land is our soil, that deep rock-strewn basaltic soil that is so rich in minerals and nutrients. The gentle slopes that drain to our wetlands, and that support a great diversity of life.
Our land is our plantlife, both the native bush blocks, the open pastures, the native windbreaks, the wetlands, and the aromatic plantings between the vine rows.
Our land is our wildlife, the small wallabies, the prolific platypus, the bandicoots, the large hares that can sometimes be spotted in the vine rows, the ladybugs, the bees both European and native, our thriving mushroom population, the small native wasps which we release in their tens of thousands, the earthworms found throughout our soils, and the many different birds that come and go with the seasons.
Our land is our mesoclimate. How mists rise from the bottom of our valley to bring moisture to the vine rows. How the vines are spaced and sited to let the drying breezes through the canopy, and to capture the slanting sunlight of the South.
All this is captured by the vine. It is carefully made into wine. Yes, the oak we use is French, everything else you can taste is from here, our land, your Tasmania.