Respect for tradition is imperative, from it comes the heart and soul of great wine. But old fashioned ways can sometimes leave too much to old fashioned chance. Preserving quality requires the use of the most modern methods, technology and understanding what the world has to offer. This is what stands Craggy Range apart, a unique and sometimes contradictory combination of tradition and innovation, old and new, art and technology.

Its winemaking equipment is the most modern and gentle available, grapes can be chilled immediately on arriving into the winery to protect their flavour and integrity. Each fermentation, each technique, every touch to every wine is recorded precisely, providing a traceable record for each and every wine, down to the most minute detail. The wine is bottled with the most advanced bottling technology available, protecting the wine at the stage it is most vulnerable.

When Craggy Range chooses its vineyards nothing is left to chance. Minute variations in temperature are recorded and overlaid on a map where soil specialists record the subtle variations in soil. The row ends curve to match the soil type variation beneath. Special vines, often sourced from French vineyards, are planted in their own unique terroir and cared for by skilled workers.

Rocks, that many farmers may bury to make life easier, are carefully placed underneath the vines to provide reflection and heat for the developing grapes. The vines are managed in balance with their environment in a system of sustainable ecological viticulture that maximises natural input and controls anything synthetic. Every stage of the vine’s growth is measured and compared to ensure the vine is kept in balance and harmony with its age and environment. Technology is an integral part of these highly tuned and precise farming systems – however, it isn’t in charge. The people who look after the vines are the real heroes of these vineyards. Pruning, removal of excess shoots and foliage, thinning, and arranging developing shoots into supporting wires are all done by hand, as no machine can make these intuitive decisions better than a skilled vineyard worker.

These people leave their mark and it is this simple philosophy of footsteps in the vineyard that drives the modern winemaker. The wines of Craggy Range reflect not only the character of the vineyard and the maker, but also the unique weather and cultural aspects of every vintage with no two vintages the same. A New World vigneron with an Old World philosophy.