2024 Lucy M Homeblock

WINEMAKER: Anton van Klopper
REGION: Adelaide Hills, SA
VARIETY: Trousseau, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, Gamay
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic

Fruit for the Home Block comes from Anton’s farm in Basket Range. This year's blend comprises 50% Trousseau and 40% Pinot Noir, with the balance a mix of white and black fruit from the farm (Pinot Blanc and Gamay are in there). It’s a dry-grown, steeply sloped site with various aspects (north, west, east) and soils (red clay over sandstone and petrified schist). Anton himself planted the vines back in the early 2000s. The fruit is fermented as bunches in a ceramic vessel for a couple of weeks before being basket-pressed to ceramic eggs for maturation.

Anton van Klopper’s commitment to making wines without any additions and his unwavering, unapologetic attitude have made him a pinup boy of natural wine — not just in Australia, but internationally. His craft of natural wine is a straightforward exercise: it involves vinifying grapes, and grapes alone, without any additions whatsoever. Few debates in wine have been so charged or divisive but Anton’s approach remains on course.