If someone had told Jane Mitchell 38 years ago she’d spend weekends picking up cow poo to make compost for their vineyards, she may have not married Andrew.
Well, not really, but how vineyard philosophies change over time. When Andrew and Jane started Mitchell Wines in 1975, Andrew’s dad used old-fashioned farming practices. Through the 1980s, Andrew and Jane felt they knew better and, like most, adopted the prevailing practices such as using roundup to control weeds.
Over the years, the Mitchells developed distinctive Clare Valley regional wine styles of Riesling, Semillon, Shiraz, Cabernet and Grenache. Every year they strive to improve.
For the past six years they have farmed organically and used bio-dynamic practices. This has resulted in better ripening of their grapes, trouble-free fermentations and thus, more complex wines.
What have they learned? Perhaps Dad’s traditional farming was the way to go.
Farm Your Earth!