When the 850 metre long, 5-row vineyard buffer zone along the boundary of Wooing Tree Estate is planted next spring, every single original Wooing Tree vine will have been replanted and re-purposed.
It’s been a massive project for owners Steve and Thea Farquharson to recreate their vineyard after the gradual removal of their 18 hectares of vines to make way for the Wooing Tree Estate residential development.
Steve Farquharson says the first step was seeing if their 20-year-old vines would survive being transplanted. In 2020 they planted 500 Wooing Tree vines on the eastern boundary of Wooing Tree Estate. These have thrived and the harvest from these grapes has gone into the 2022 Blondie & Co bubbles.
In 2021 the Farquharsons purchased a 20-hectare property near Cromwell, now known as Pink Moon. The property included 8 hectares of established Pinot Noir and Gewurztraminer, and 8 hectares of bareland. Over the past two winters they have transplanted more than 20,000 original Wooing Tree Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines at the new vineyard.
“It was really hard and almost more expensive than planting a vineyard from scratch. The advantage is that vines produce better wines as they get older, and we didn’t want to wait three to five years to secure baby vines and then another three years for them to reach maturity.”
“This way we will be back at full production across the two vineyard areas within three years,” says Steve.
The good news for lovers of Wooing Tree’s award winning wines is the Farquharsons have planned ahead and will have plenty of their favourite varieties in stock, plus two new wines to taste this summer. In October Wooing Tree Wine Club members will be the first to taste the new Wooing Tree Gewurztraminer and a late harvest Gewurztraminer named 1401 before it is released to the public.
“It was sad pulling the vines out of our original vineyard so adding Pink Moon and re-establishing around the boundary at Wooing Tree Estate is a really exciting new chapter for us and the people who love our wines.”
In November this year Steve and Thea Farquharsoon will commence construction of their new Wooing Tree Cellar Door and Restaurant located on the corner of Blondie Drive and State Highway.
Check out the sections available for you to build your new home in this idyllic spot, or contact our sales team to learn more.
