Vineyard

The vineyard at Zarephath is situated in East Porongurup, in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia. It is a unique site, being the easternmost vineyard in the region, and enjoys a cool but sunny meso-climate. During the growing season, winds blowing off the Southern Ocean provide a moderating influence. Soils vary from gravelly clay to sandy loam, all over clay subsoils and granite bedrock. The vineyard aspect ranges from southeast to northeast, and the surrounding native bushland, dominated by stunted Jarrah and Marri, produces a heady aroma of red gum blossom during the ripening period. With rainfall at 600 ml per year, the vines are drip irrigated just sufficiently to avoid stress. Cropping levels are kept low in order to bring out more intense fruit flavours and colour.

The motto in the Zarephath vineyard is "quality through attention to detail". With the extra hands available that living in community provides, we are able to spend more quality time with each individual vine, ensuring that the balance between vegetative growth and fruit production is maintained, and that the vines are always kept in an optimum state of health. Shoot thinning and leaf plucking are employed in order to provide good sunlight penetration and ventilation in the canopy. Maintaining a balance between pests and their natural predators also helps to minimise the need for chemical sprays. But besides all this, we also "talk" with our vines, offering encouragement and expressing appreciation for the good job they are doing, not necessarily with words, but we are sure that they respond to how we feel about them, and the results speak for themselves!