Our Vineyards
Portia Valley Wines Vineyards
In 1992, Chris and Teresa purchased their first 25-acre vineyard in the Riverland wine region of South Australia. Since then, they have expanded this considerably and Portia Valley Wines now proudly own and operate over 150 acres of vineyards.
The majority of these vines were planted between 1990 and 2005 on their own roots, with a diverse range of clone stock and selected varieties used. These include Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Chardonnay.
Chris and Teresa realised the importance of sustainable practices in the vineyards to preserve the environment and help maintain the natural ecosystem in the Riverland. As a fourth-generation family business, it was important to Chris and Teresa to improve the land for future generations by nurturing it and passing it on in better condition, as well as being part of a collective effort to ensure a resilient and thriving Australian wine industry.
With this in mind, they have converted all vineyards to Australian Certified Organic (Producer Number 10936A) and all grapes are grown without the use of synthetic fertilisers, herbicides, insecticides or fungicides – keeping a natural balance in the vineyard and surrounding land.
In addition, Chris and Teresa further reduced their environmental footprint by using thoughtful and considerate sustainable practices including the installation of solar farms on the vineyards and drip irrigation with moisture monitoring to conserve water.
The Riverland has long, warm sunny days and cool nights – reminiscent of Southern Italy. The long sunshine hours ensure the fruit ripens fully. Vintage is from late January until mid-April each year, and harvesting is all done by machine in the cool of the night. Fortunately, the dry environment rarely has rainfall during harvest so there are few factors during this time that can spoil the fruit, resulting in consistent quality and supply year after year.
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land – the Erawirung and Kaurna people – the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the traditional owners of this country and pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging.
Portia Valley Wines
Australian Certified Organic
Wine made from organic grapes is made to a strict set of winemaking procedures that comply with the international “IFOAM” Organic standard. IFOAM stands for International Federation Organic Agricultural Movement. The process is audited annually, followed with accredited testing by our certifying body: Australian Certified Organic Pty Ltd.
Ultimately, the quality and characteristics of the organically grown grapes determines quality of the wine. However, there are many factors that influence both grape quality and the wine making process. Portia Valley make sure through our technical and structured approach that we maximise the quality of product we extract from the wine grape. The result is great quality, full bodied wine which is organic, and chemical residue free.