Lark Hill Winery
Lark Hill was established in 1978 by Sue & Dave Carpenter with their son Chris joining the winemaking team in 2002. Situated 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 vines that were planted in 1978 produces fruit of 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.
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. 2008 marked the first vintage of ‘Certified Biodynamic’ wines from Lark Hill.
In 2011, Lark Hill purchased a second 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.
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