Alkina
Wine Growing Philosophy
Micro Terroirs
Kin By Alkina
Old Quarter
The Polygons
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41 Victor Road, Greenock, SA 5360
Alkina is a new story on an old place.
We seek to understand, nurture, care for and ultimately express this beautiful land in its wines, its values and its experiences for visitors. 'ALKINA' is an Indigenous Australian girl's name meaning 'Moon' or 'Moonlight'. This name embodies our respect for the land and the many forces of nature that we work with to bring life, energy and authenticity to our wines. Ancient stones and soils, organic and biodynamic viticulture, small scale winemaking and the creation of unique micro-terroir wines, grown and made on our estate in the Western Barossa ranges.
We want to make wine that is an expression of this place; pure, authentic, terroir wines from healthy vines in healthy soils. We want to make the very best wines we can by having a deeper knowledge and understanding of the land. A human's influence is relevant for a short time, but the land is timeless if we look after it.
The farm sits on the traditional lands of the Ngadjuri people, who live in this area and through Clare, up to the state's Mid-North. We acknowledge the Ngadjuri people as the traditional custodians of this land. We seek to honour the land's Aboriginal history, to learn from their spiritual relationship with Country and to promote the idea of guardianship rather than ownership. We pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging.
The farm at Alkina was established in 2015 when Argentinian vintner, Alejandro Bulgheroni purchased a property near Greenock in the Barossa Valley with a vineyard planted in the 1950s and old stone buildings built in the 1850s. Together with local winegrower, Amelia Nolan, they both loved the rolling hills and the promise of the geology that lay beneath, as well as the area of old Grenache, Shiraz, Mataro and Semillon vines that we now call the Old Quarter.
We now have 45 hectares of vines with younger plantings accompanying the old, still focusing on the heritage varieties that have found their natural home in the region. We grow and make all Alkina wines on the farm, hand picking the grapes and moving them all of 200m to our small winery. All of the original farm is organic and biodynamic certified, while the neighbouring Owens Block (bought in 2016) is also farmed to the same exacting standards, though isn't yet certified.
Our vineyard is farmed organically and biodynamically and certified by NASAA. We want our wines to be completely reflective of the Barossa Valley, so we look for the most authentic and pure expression of our site. To make wine that truly communicates its place you have to prize soil health and eradicate all synthetic chemicals.
In some regions it's hard to make the change to organic viticulture because of the weather, but the Barossa has a warm, dry climate and our site is particularly windy, so the transition has been very successful. We farm grapes in a way that is harmonious with our surroundings and in a way that will leave the soils and the ecosystems in a healthier state than when we found them.
Alkina is a 60 hectare farm with 43 hectares of planted vines. The youngest blocks were planted in 2017, while 6ha of the oldest vines were planted in the early 1950s by Les Kalleske. The original vineyard has been certified organic and biodynamic (NASAA) since 2016. In that same year we added on the neighbouring Owens Vineyard, 20ha of established vineyard that came up for sale at just the right moment. This part of the vineyard is also farmed organically and biodynamically, but it is not yet certified. We strive to produce authentic terroir wines; meaning that the grapes communicate exactly where they were grown, with clear variations being found in the fruit from vines that are just a few metres apart. Central to this endeavour is soil health and plant and microbial diversity.
Since the beginning of the Alkina journey in 2015, we have worked with the goal of gaining an intimate knowledge of the land we farm and care for, believing that this knowledge would help us to do two things. The first has been to develop management practices that would improve soil health/microbiology, water management, vine health and overall biodiversity of flora and fauna, upholding the values of regenerative rather than just sustainable farming. The second has been to understand the type and scale of terroir variability across the vineyard, and in understanding this, rely less on the tools of winemaking and more on the knowledge that the secret of creating real terroir wines lies deep within the rocks and soils of our place.
A small winery has been constructed in a meticulously renovated old stone barn and here we vinify all of the Alkina wines. It is equipped with tulip shaped concrete fermenters and clay amphorae from Italy, a qvevri from Georgia and small concrete eggs from France. A small amount of larger and older oak barrels is also used.
Everything we do in the winery is designed to protect the integrity of the fruit and the source block or polygon. Winemaking is pared back so that the imprint of the winemaker is barely perceptible and we avoid what we think are the six enemies of terroir wine: over-ripening, over-extraction, invasive oak, synthetic chemicals, the winemaker's ego and market-led winemaking. This is our interpretation of making the most 'Barossan' wine that we can.
Wine is essentially a combination of soil, plants and climate and the human hand is really only required to understand this picture and help to develop it. However it definitely takes a few human hands to pull the complex parts of the farm and business together.
Our village is made up of many facets and the team that looks after them tends to work simultaneously across all areas of the business. We're quick to point out that we don't yet know all of the answers to our farming challenges, but we are learning.
Led by Managing Director, Amelia Nolan, the team is made up of Johnny Schuster (Vineyard & Estate Manager), Cynthia Loo (Business Manager), Dan Coward (Sales & Marketing) and Elka Parsons (Tasting Room Manager).
41 Victor Road
Greenock, SA 5360
Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon - 11am – 5pm
Tues, Wed, Thurs – closed
© Copyright Alkina Wine Estate
Site by Vintools
Tasting Flights
Our Tasting Room is open 11am – 5pm, Thursday to Monday and closed Tuesday and Wednesday each week.
There are three flights available to book. All come with charcuterie, cheese, bread and accompaniments. Our wines are served in Riedel Veritas Old World Syrah glassware, and are accompanied by sparkling Adelaide Hills spring water from A Rock and a Hard Place. Allow an hour for each flight.
Classic Flight ($30) - Taste the best of the 'Kin by Alkina' range as well as our flagship wine, Old Quarter.
International Flight ($50) – A selection of fine wines from Alejandro Bulgheroni Family Vineyards in Argentina, Uruguay, Italy and Australia.
Micro-Terroir Flight ($80) – Start with a glass of Champagne, followed by our three rare Polygon wines and the Old Quarter.
Or if you would like to book a table just for a glass of wine this is also possible.
Alkina complies with all COVID Safe guidelines. Please note that we operate a cash-less tasting room. We do not take payment details at booking time, unless the group is larger than 6 people. If it is a larger group please call 08 8562 8246 to arrange. More details at www.alkinawine.com