“Bravery or madness - the results speak for themselves”
Happy Winter to you all – we have just had our wettest June on our records (since 1980) on our home Sand Road property, quite amazing given early predictions for a dry season!
In an article on us in the Australian Financial Review in June 2021, esteemed wine writer Max Allen used the above quote to describe a wee bit about our farming ethos, also adding, “these crazy brothers win by doing almost nothing.”
This rang true recently, in our win for “Innovative Vineyard of the Year” also dubbed as the “groundbreaker” trophy at the annual Young Gun of Wine Vineyard of the Year Awards, which is a national selection of the Top 50 vineyards in Australia.
This continues a string of success for our much-loved Sand Road vineyard, also home to the McLaren Vale Wine Show “Bushing” (best wine of show) wines in 2019 (Nero d’Avola) and 2022 (Aglianico) all tended by Richard Leask and our wonderful Leask Agri team.
We have been asked what makes this patch in the cooler eastern foothills of the Vale so special. Honestly, we don’t know except that we never tire of regenerating the soil and encouraging more biodiversity in the place, and then trusting this naturally in the wines.
Our Sand Road vineyard is a certified Sustainable Winegrowing Australia vineyard and also a certified Carbon Neutral (with Climate Active) property, so you can enjoy our wines from here and help the planet as well.
It is our mother block for new variety planting, so dynamic and healthy, with 17 varieties growing happily right now, and we never stop searching for something different.
Cheers Mal & Richard!
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