How It All Started

When we relocated to Eden Valley, we really didn’t know what to expect.

We fell in love with the property, the beautiful surroundings and, of course, the idea of having our very own little vineyard. The original plan was simple — grow the grapes and sell them to local wineries. And that’s exactly what we did… well, mostly!

Somehow, we never quite got around to selling our Pinot Noir grapes. So instead, we decided to take the next step and see what we could create from them.

We contracted Peter Kelly from Thorn-Clarke Wines to make the wine for us, and we couldn’t be happier with the result. Seeing those grapes that we had grown ourselves turn into our very first wine has been incredibly rewarding — and a little bit surreal!

Our first wine, the 2 Jacks Pinot Noir, is just the beginning. We’re looking forward to adding more wines to our collection next year, with Merlot, Shiraz, Pinot Noir and Riesling grapes growing here at Newlands Estate.

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, though. Our first year certainly gave us a few lessons. We had frost in November, followed by far too much rain just before harvest. Unfortunately, the wet conditions caused our Riesling grapes to split, which meant we lost that crop.

But that’s farming — and especially vineyard life. You learn, you adapt and you try again.

We’ve learned a lot in our first year, and there are definitely things we’ll do differently this season. We’re already looking ahead to the next vintage and everything it might bring.

What started as a simple plan to grow and sell grapes has turned into something much more exciting. We’re discovering that there’s a lot more to having a vineyard than we ever imagined — and we’re loving the journey.

This is only the beginning of the Newlands Estate story.