 | OUR VINEYARD
St
Ignatius Vineyard was founded in 1992 and, has subsequently developed over the
years. The project was based on a meticulous master plan engineered by Silvia
and Enrique years earlier. Avoca, the location of our vineyard and home, is a
country town of about 1,000 people located 170Km North West of Melbourne,
Victoria. The town of Avoca was founded because of its abundant Gold deposits.
In due course, it developed as a pastoral comunity predominantly for the
raising of Merino stock (producing wool).
Although vineyards were first planted in this area during the mid 1800’s, they
had disappeared by the turn of the last century. The current vineyard
developments in the catchment re-emerged in 1963, with grapes used in the production of
brandy. However, ultimately the area would grow and produce grapes for wine. The Shiraz
varietal is symbolic of the Pyrenees, and regarded by many as 'the wine of the
region'. Many other varietals, both red and whites grow exceptionally well; examples are: Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, Malbec, Grenache amongst reds; Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Torrontes, Viognier amongst whites.
The Pyrenees area is regarded as cool in climate and suitable for the
production of grapes for winemaking. The soils are renowned as tough (5% of the poorest soils in Victoria are here), and recently we have
been affected by climate change and the entrenchment of the
drought identify by us in 1996. The winters are relatively wet and cool; whilst
during the summertime is very dry temperatures ranging between 30 to even 50 Deg Celsius. Autumns are often calm, allowing
our grapes to ripen gently. Springs are generally windy and subject to heavy
frosts. Average annual rainfall is ~500 mm or ~20 inches. Underground water is scarce, and generally brackish. Many vineyards (ours is an example) are
not irrigated, or only irrigated during establishment. Soils are very old; with
most dating back to the Ordovician era of 200,000,000 years ago. This means the
soils have to be worked on and conditioned periodically. Vines may struggle to
grow in this hostile environment; however, due to a combination of detailed care and environmentally friendly practices (i.e. mulching), our vines have flourished, consistently
producing premium grapes. Yields are generally low when compared with other
regions, but they are generally of superior quality. The eucalyptus compliments
these surroundings, providing leaves which bring a unique, but undoubtedly
valuable taste to our wines. The focus in such conditions must be on quality
production, not on production in volume. It is therefore, the combination of
"Terroir (soil)", the number of days of sun, the low incidence of
disease and the climate in general, that helps to produce premium grapes with a
special character. Indeed, due under our careful and traditional approach to
the finest winemaking, it is no wonder our wines outrival the competition.
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