‘Homedale’

Homedale was one of the earliest selections in Eurunderee, ten kilometres north of the town of Mudgee, comprising originally 1200 acres at the northern end of the Eurunderee Goldfield, made famous by Henry Lawson in his prose and poetry; his boyhood home itself being toward the southern end of the goldfield.

The ‘Shanty on the Rise’, a grog shop the subject of Lawson’s stories, stood in what is now a Shiraz block on Homedale.

The Homedale homestead dates from 1890 when the gold fever had expired and the pastoral industry reigned in Eurunderee. It is thought that shortly after the homestead was constructed on Homedale a muscat vineyard was planted in what is now the ‘North Slope’ shiraz block. This vineyard lasted until the 1970s when, with the sharp decline in the popularity of fortified wines, it was grubbed out and replaced with oat crops and pasture.

Progressively through the second half of the 20th century Homedale was reduced in size by subdivision, until only 40 acres of basalt quartz gravel country surrounding the homestead and the old vineyard site remains. The country sold off over the years has gone largely into vineyards also, including the Montrose winery and part of the vineyards of Oatley Wines and several commercial wine grape growers.

Soil

Homedale comprises red basaltic soils shot through with white quartzite gravel in the principal vineyard blocks with one comprising red basalt interspersed with quartzite sandstone intrusions.

Test holes reveal that the basalt soils are generally over a metre deep, shot through with quartz stones and gravel, overlying, in turn, red gravel and red clay, allowing excellent water penetration, root growth and high vine vitality.

Climate

Homedale, being in the Eurunderee district, lies at the northern head of Mudgee’s Cudgegong Valley at 500 metres above sea level.

As the Mudgee area lies in a valley within the Central Tablelands of New South Wales it enjoys a semi tablelands climate of hot summer days and cool nights and cold winters. The hot summer days ensure that the red grapes of Homedale have the maximum ripening opportunity, whilst the cool summer nights allow for the slow development of full fruit flavours.

The cold winters give the vines the full opportunity of going into total dormancy and of coming into spring budburst with maximum vigour.

Aspect

For grapes to be spared the losses associated with spring frosts killing buds and grape flower, and for them to have the maximum chance of achieving full ripening and a high grape sugar content and flavour, the vines should be on sloping country with good air drainage and the rows be aligned to allow maximum exposure to sunshine on both sides of the trellis.

The north and west facing sloping vineyards of Homedale achieve both these objectives with all vine rows aligned approximately north- south, allowing the morning sun to fall on the eastern side of rows and the afternoon sun the western side, and with a sufficient slope high enough up in the valley to allow cold air drainage away from the vines to minimise the risk of frost damage.

Water

Mudgee has an average annual rainfall of 27inches. This rain falls, usually fairly regularly throughout the year, with a slight emphasis on summer rainfall.

The rainfall is such that dry land grape growing is possible but with very variable yields. At Homedale in line dripper irrigation is used to ensure that vines do not suffer moisture stress and do carry fruit to maturity, but not to artificially increase crop yields.

The relatively dry climate serves to protect the vines from fungal diseases associated with excess moisture and humidity and allows us to work mainly with the old organic fungal control sprays, based on copper and sulphur.

Altitude

Altitude is coming to be appreciated to be a significant contributor to the growing of the finest of red wines. It is a physical fact that the higher one goes there is a corresponding fall in temperature. This is especially true in summer nights and as the warm air drains away down the valley the cooler air slows the ripening process permitting the development of a delicacy of flavour not shared by hot climate wines.

For many the magic altitude is 500 metres, a height sufficient to gain the benefit of night cooling without sacrificing the daytime temperatures needed to guarantee full fruit ripening.

At Homedale we are fortunate the 500 metre contour passes through the vineyards at the level of the homestead, placing all the blocks at or above the 500 metre level with the attendant benefits.