As
anywhere, good wine begins in the vineyard and what is most important
for a great wine is the terroir of the vineyard - the combination of
soil and climate. Here, at the Schubert vineyards, relatively mild winters
and a slow ripening season couples with hand-pruning and hand-picking
of low cropping vines to consistently produce fruit of excellent quality.
The
Australian wine industry is proudly based on its vines, which
date back to the first days of settlement, when pioneering hands
planted their cuttings. As the creator of Penfold’s Grange
Hermitage, Max Schubert once said, “I’d like to
believe that the wines with which I have been associated are descended
from one old ancestor vineyard established many years ago, marrying
with another, and another, and even another if you like, thus
creating and establishing a dynasty of wines. These may differ
in character year by year, but all ... bear an unmistakable resemblance
and relationship to each other and to the original ancestral starter
member of the dynasty."
Schubert Estate began originally in the early 1900s when a Schubert family settled on Roennfeldt Road. Steve Schubert bought Arthur Schubert's 65-acre property in the 1980s unfortunately by then all the vines were derelict. Steve began with the task in renovating the old iron-stone house and in
1991 Steve sectioned off six acres
and planted it with three acres each of shiraz and semillon vines.
In 1996 Steve prepared two acres of the L-shaped piece of land
which surrounded the goose-yard and planned for it to be planted
with Shiraz rootlings. By the year 2000 Steve and Cecilia decided
that with a total of approx 32 acres planted to vineyard it was time to cease
planting. Read more...
