Inkwell
HAND-made limited release wines delivered from sustainably managed vineyards showcase Inkwell Wines vineyard practices.
McLaren Vale-based wine growing duo Dudley Brown and Irina Santiago-Brown produce expressive, balanced and age-worthy wines reflecting a philosophy of minimal intervention.
Inkwell’s California Road estate delivers up to 2500 cases each year of Shiraz, Primitivo, Viognier, Cabernet Sauvignon, Mouvedre and blends thereof.
Fruit for these wines are drawn from a plot of vines on prime 'Pirramimma Sandstone'.
Midlife converts to Australian wine growing and making, Dudley and Irina - from the United States and Brazil respectively - personally grow the grapes and make their wines at a human scale using minimal technology.
“We had careers in high tech and government that we left behind to be the change,“ Dudley said.
“I became a grape grower and winemaker in McLaren Vale, while Irina pursued a Masters and PhD in Sustainability in Viticulture at the University of Adelaide. “
Past Chairman of the McLaren Vale Grape Wine and Tourism Association and the founding / current Chairman of DJ’s Growers Services and Supplies in McLaren Vale, Dudley is a driving force in helping the region to integrate cutting edge viticulture practices.
Irina has developed and rolled out the McLaren Vale Winegrape Sustainability Australia system - Australia’s only sustainability system for viticulture.
This world-class system has been taken up by over one-half of the McLaren Vale region’s grape growers in just its third year.
“Our quest is to reach the “as simple as possible, but not simpler” place required to make outstanding, age-worthy wines,” Irina said.
“We want to connect our vines and wines with people who value the joy found in wine grown and made on a personal scale.
“We have removed as many inorganic products as we sensibly can from every part of Inkwell’s wine growing and wine making over the past ten vintages to best express our site in single vineyard wines.”
The formula for Inkwell’s success is based on scaling wine growing and making back to its roots by handcrafting wine from grapes grown on a 40 acre vineyard with the basics. These basics include an old tractor, a 140 square metre wine shed, 15 amps of single phase electric, one forklift, one de-stemmer, one press, one hot water pressure washer, two pumps and two fanatics.
Street Address:
377 California Road
Tatachilla
SA 5171
M: 0430 050 115
