2022 Manon Geoponika
WINEMAKER: Tim Webber & Monique Milton
REGION: Adelaide Hills, SA
VARIETY: Savagnin, Chardonnay
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic
Made in the years when there is a true delicacy to the season. Chardonnay and Savagnin components come from the most electric/mineral/expressive sections of their vineyards. The grapes are harvested then taken to the cellar and thoroughly squished by foot. This, once left for a night and day is pressed slowly to ferment in one or two favourite old puncheons. A seriously tight yet broad and open wine evolves with layer upon layer….two more years in bottle harmonises and enriches and sets it soaring. Allow to open and evolve to welcome the complexity of this wine. Red clay over schist with a predominance of iron stone quartz sings to this wine. This is the last Geoponika for awhile - 2023 is High Paradise and 2024 is Savagnin Pure from this vineyard. High Paradise is the riper and macerated version of Geoponika.
Manon Farm is perched high up (600 meters elevation) on the Forest Range ridge of the Adelaide Hills nestled between the Basket Range and Lenswood. With a dramatic view straight down to the Gulf St Vincent below this unique situation is very rewarding for the vines as cooling air is drawn straight up and over the farm from the ocean. This combined with the elevation results in an extra long, slow ripening period for the grapes and ideal growing conditions for our organic approach.
The ridge was formed some 600 million years ago during the Cambrian period and as such there is a great complexity of very, very old rocks - predominately mica schists with large seams of iron stone quartz then a red clay layer and lastly a thin but beautiful top soil formed by ancient eucalypt forests and the passage of time... This super abundance of quartz and mica (silica) makes for very mineral driven wines.
The vines are dry farmed and the land is tended using Biodynamic culture - a holistic farming method in sync with the rhythms of the earth and the cosmos which is dear to our hearts and hands. This is incredibly enriching and satisfying for us and the land. We wish not to control Nature but to work with, listen to and be attentive every step of the way. Creating a truly diverse working farm with vines, orchards, vegetables and native forest. Our own world truly humming with the vibration of life.