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Background
At
19, Andrew Clarke started as a trainee Winemaker and Viticulturist at Riverina
College of Advanced Education. He trained under Andrew Birks and Max Loder (guru
German Viticulturist). Whilst here he traveled to many areas learning about
winemaking and grape growing, including Coonawarra and Cowra and throughout the
Riverina. A stint at Brown Brothers working under Rick Kinzbrunner (Giaconda)
and then to the Yarra Valley working for various labels including Fergusson,
Cuthbertsons Munindindi and St Huberts under Brian Fletcher.During this period
Andrew went to work in Sonoma, California for Dave Stare at Dry Creek and also
worked in South West France mainly in the Bordeaux region at Chateau Giscours
and three or four other small establishments.
In
1984 Andrew started his own viticultural Consultancy business. This entailed
setting up vineyards and overseeing their day to day management. Over the years
this has given Andrew the opportunity to source some very good grapes for wines
made under the Jinks Creek label. In 1989 Andrew started making wine under the
Jinks Creek label. Currently Andrew oversees 10 vineyards ranging in size from 1
acre up to 50 acres. Andrew loves the challenge of producing the best fruit
possible in any given year and still has clientele from when he began his
business 1984.
The first acre of Jinks Creek Vineyard was planted in 1979 consisting of equal portions of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The Vineyard has been growing ever since and now is around 8 acres (very small by most standards). Sauvignon Blanc was planted in the early 90's and has performed well. Andrew’s philosophy on growing is minimal. The soil gets little or no fertilizer and the spraying of the vines is kept as close as possible to using basics like sulphur and copper. Irrigation is kept to an absolute minimum and normally the vines are not irrigated except in unusually dry years. Winemaking is the same; minimal inputs lots of solids some wild ferments, no filtration (except for Sauvignon Blanc) and minimal use of SO2. Andrew likes to think that the vineyard is as close to its "Terrior" as possible and that the wines reflect that. For a printer friendly version of this page click here |
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