The Jericho Family Vineyard sits on a north-east facing hilltop in Blewitt Springs, at 140 metres. The Grenache was planted in 1955. We take fruit from a handful of select rows.
The aspect matters here. A north-east face catches the morning sun and loses the worst of the afternoon heat, which lengthens the ripening window and holds acidity in the fruit. Sitting up on the hilltop, the site also gets the airflow that moves through Blewitt Springs on summer evenings.
The soil is the classic deep sand of the subregion — ancient, free-draining, and low in nutrition. It stresses the vine and keeps yields down, concentrating what fruit does set. Grenache grown on this sand gives an intensely aromatic, floral wine with more structure than the variety's reputation might suggest.
The vines are old enough now to regulate themselves. They crop lightly without being pushed, and the fruit arrives balanced rather than needing correction. This is a vineyard that does most of the work for us — our job is to not get in the way of what the site is already doing.
