Ngeringa

The Free Bacchus Story

The land was a herb farm first. Ulrike and Jürgen Klein founded the Jurlique skin-care brand in 1985 and bought land in the Adelaide Hills for its herb farm, which was certified biodynamic in 1993. Their son Erinn met Janet while they were studying at the University of Adelaide, he winemaking, she viticulture and wine marketing. After a tour of Europe’s biodynamic vineyards they planted their first vines on the farm in 2001 and made their first wine in 2005.

The Summit vineyard, two hectares at about 360 metres, is planted at 6,600 vines a hectare, dense by Australian standards, and every vine hole is dug by hand, with a handful of homemade compost in each. Chickens work the rows for pests and sheep graze them in winter. Since 2008 the Kleins have planted up to 1,500 native trees a year, and they say 80 per cent of their power now comes from solar.

The Adelaide Hills are a narrow band of higher country east of Adelaide, much cooler in summer than the city below, with the warmer Barossa to the north and McLaren Vale to the south. The Chardonnay the Hills are known for is elegant and lean, with the acidity to age. Ngeringa means the place of the sheoak, in the language of the Peramangk people, whose country this is.

In 2024 the Summit was named Vineyard of the Year by Young Gun of Wine. Southern Cross Certified certifies the Summit and Iluma vineyards as organic and biodynamic and names the single-vineyard wines as biodynamic. Since 2023 some of the cheaper Sheoak wines have included fruit bought from certified organic growers nearby, and the certificate lists those as organic only.