Lark Hill

Lark Hill was established in 1978 by Sue & Dave Carpenter, high on the escarpment above Bungendore, 30km North East of Canberra. Lark Hill is a cold vineyard and at 860m elevation, is one of the highest plantings in the Canberra District. The soils are shallow depleted shale over clay, and vineyard receives ~600mm of rainfall annually. In 2002, their son Chris joined the winemaking team at Lark Hill. The vines were planted in 1978 & are not very vigorous, giving intense flavours but limited crops. Lark Hill is sparingly irrigated, as most water available in the area is saline. Instead the vines are pruned for low yields and heavily mulched to make the most of any available soil moisture.

The first vintage was in 1981 and comprised Riesling and Chardonnay in tiny quantities. Whilst a wide range of varieties were initially planted, the cold, dry nature of the site does not suit some varieties like Cabernet or Shiraz, and these have been grafted to more suitable choices. The Lark Hill estate vineyard grows Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Gruner Veltliner. In 2003, the Carpenters sought Biodynamic certification for this vineyard through NASAA (minimum 5 year transition) and in 2006 the ‘transition to Biodynamic’ certification was granted. 2008 marked the first vintage of ‘Certified Biodynamic’ wines from Lark Hill.

In 2011, Lark Hill purchased a 2nd vineyard, in Murrumbateman and renamed it “Dark Horse Vineyard”. Dark Horse was established in 2001 and comprises Shiraz, Viognier, Sangiovese and small amounts of Marsanne & Rousanne. It has supplied some of these varieties to several prestigious labels in the Canberra District, and was the source of our 2009 and 2010 Shiraz Viognier & Viognier. Dark Horse is lower than Lark Hill (at approx. 600m) and planted on deep granite soils. It has good vigour and delivers very generous, rich fruit. Dark Horse is now certified Biodynamic (2013 onwards) by NASAA.

Biodynamic farming is based on a series of lectures by Rudolph Steiner given in the late 1920s, addressing the problems of increased mechanisation of farming and abundance of chemical sprays and synthesised fertilizers. At its heart, Biodynamics treats a farm as a living organism - a interconnected web where crop health comes as function of farm health, not in isolation. The first step to this is using the Organic farming standards to eliminate artificial, toxic inputs into the farm. Beyond this, Biodynamic farming uses a collection of natural methods to increase crop health by re-establishing and supporting positive microbiology in the soil and on the crop itself. 
 

The most common form of this is 'Preparation 500'; cow manure fermented in a cow-horn. The result is a soil starter culture of bacteria and fungi, which is cultured in warm (aerated) water and sprayed onto the soil surface. Included in this culture are Rhizobium bacteria, which fix atmospheric Nitrogen into plant-available nutrients, and mycorrhizal fungi, which form symbiotic relationships with plants to unlock otherwise unavailable nutrients from the soil. In the winery, the organic limitations are also observed (with regards to chemical inputs), and the elimination of toxic sprays from the vineyard results in healthy natural yeast ferments, resulting in unique and diverse wines. We have a limit of 100mg/L of sulfur dioxide (preservative) under our certification - and our wines are often lower than this level; as a result, they will age predictably and safely - but may be more suitable for people with sulfur sensitivies. 

Our wines are suitable for a vegan diet. Because our wines are made without inputs, manipulation or chemical adjustment, each wine becomes a true realisation of "terroir" - the sense of time & place. They are unique to their vintage and vineyard - and each wine becomes a marker of a time and place in our own lives. Finally, we use Biodynamics to achieve true sustainability - our farms are self-sufficient and the vines are managed in a way that means they will continue to thrive for generations to come. Biodymamics isn't about dogmatic restrictions, or prescriptive farming, or a 'silver bullet' to solve a problem; it's a toolkit to help us learn about how to help our farm.