Calvert Vineyard - 10.1 Hectares

History and Location

Calvert Vineyard is located just 1km east of the Elms Vineyard on Felton Road. The gentle north facing slopes lie immediately below the hills of the Bannockburn gold sluicings, now a historic park. Bailley's Gulley tailrace that carried away massive amounts of sluiced gold workings divides the property and provides excellent cold air drainage to minimise frost risk. The vineyard land had been home to a few sheep, rabbits and briar bushes until planting of vines began in 1999.

Soils

The gentle slopes at Calvert Vineyard are all comprised of the Bannockburn soils "Deep silt loams." The very even and north facing slopes mean these soils are very consistent across the blocks. This makes vine management considerably easier without having variation within individual blocks. The soil is derived from a mixture of fine textured lake-bed sediments (tertiary clays) and quartz sands along with quartz and schist gravels. There is a very shallow coating of loess on the surface. Deep down (over 1m) there are fine sandy loams and bands of sands, silts and quartz gravels with many dendritic accumulations of calcium carbonate. The soils are regarded as having reasonably high natural fertility with good water-holding capacity.

Planting

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The vineyard was planted over 3 phases. The Lodge Block was planted in 1999 to 4 clones (UCD5, UCD6, AM10/5, B115) of Pinot Noir at a vine density of 2500 vines/ha. Aurum, Willows and Springs were planted in 2001 to a further 3 clones of Pinot Noir (B667, B777, B115) at 3500 vines/ha. The third phase, the House Block, was planted in 2003 to 0.8 hectares each of Riesling (GM198.19 and GM110) and Chardonnay (D95) also to 3500 vines/ha. Five different rootstocks (3309, 101.14, Riparia Gloire, 5C and SO4) have been planted across Calvert Vineyary.

Vineyard Characteristics

With its gentle north facing slopes and even soil distribution, the grapes ripen very consistently at Calvert Vineyard. Normally Calvert Vineyard ripens earlier than Elms due to its lower elevation and range of rootstocks. The wines have excellent texture and mouthfeel with subtle aromatics and ripe dark fruits. The tannins are fine without the same depth that we see from the older vines at Elms.