Ridgefield was planted in 1996 on a gentle north facing slope in the Coldstream/Gruyere subregion of the Yarra Valley. Elevations vary from 103 to 118 metres above sea level, providing good water and frost drainage. The late Dr Bailey Carrodus of Yarra Yering provided the inspiration and encouragement to persist with an unirrigated vineyard despite more than a decade of drought conditions following the planting.
The Ridgefield soils are grey-brown duplex over red-brown clay with broken rock scattered through much of the mid slope area. The six and a half acres of vines are unirrigated and unfertilised – the mid rows are planted after each vintage with oats which are turned into the soil in early summer to provide nutrition and texture to the soil. This both ensures no competition for moisture for the vines but also provides a dry vineyard mitigating against disease and pests – the vines have never been sprayed with pesticides and receive minimal summer spraying .
The vines are cane pruned by hand and bunch thinned to ensure the low 2 1/2 ton/acre yield needed for quality wines. Picking is always by hand, with pickers leaving on the vine any bunches that do not meet the quality standards – typically some are always left unpicked as a result.
The combination of no irrigation forcing vine roots deep into the subsoils and low yields leads to site characters in all the wines, which have a typical Ridgefield fragrance.
The grapes planted are:
• The 5 varieties required for Bordeaux style wine
(Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec & Petit Verdot)
• Four clones of Pinot Noir
• Shiraz and a very small plot of Viognier for cofermenting with the Shiraz
• A small plot of Chardonnay
With vintage to vintage variation, each year is always just right for several of these varieties. The fruit is made into single vineyard wines – initially the Ridgeline wines were made at Yarra Yering. Since 2006 the fruit goes to Mac Forbes wines for the Gruyere wines (Pinot Noir and Syrah) and the Hugh for the Bordeaux style wine.
