Family owned and operated by Phillip and Judy Cross in the highly regarded wine region Langhorne Creek, only 50 minutes drive south of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia.
Phillip bought the property in 1984 and into a private pipeline to deliver River Murray Water to his property providing the opportunity to re-develop his mixed farm into a vineyard in the Langhorne Creek Wine region in 1994. In 2002 Angas Plains Estate produced its first vintage of wine. A very small crush to produces PJ’s Cabernet Sauvignon.
Angas Plains Estate property is 40 hectares with 25 hectares planted to vines. The property boasts 2 large holding dams for storage of water for minimal irrigation for the vines during the summer months. The region’s vineyards reach out across 6000 hectares and has grown due to its ideal climate and soils to produce consistent premium quality grapes.
Planting a block each year between 1994 and 2001 to 34 acres of Shiraz, 25.5 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2 acres of Chardonnay, all on single trellis. The vineyard is on the old flood plains of the Angas River. This seasonally flowing river flows after heavy rains from its catchment area of the Adelaide Hills through the historical township of Strathalbyn to our Langhorne Creek wine region and out to Lake Alexandrina. The combination of the deep alluvial sandy loam and mild climate provides ideal growing conditions.
The value of planting cover crops between the vines, depends on whether you get enough rain. The crop is used as mulch adding goodness to the soil. We have endeavored to set the vineyard up in such a way that we use minimum water and increase the organic matter in the soil, to assist with the reduction of soil moisture by evaporation to ensure the vines are nurtured and grow in balance.
Great wines are born in great vineyards and it is vitally important that our viticulture and wine-making teams work together to produce our wines. Having the vines in balance and ripening their fruit early in the season without stressing the vines is always our aim. The Angas Plains Estate wines are generally made in small batches (10 tonnes) and the red wines ferment in open top vessels over 8 days. They are pressed off skins and filled into French barrels for the Cabernet and a combination of French and American oak barrels for the Shiraz. Each year 25 to 33% of the barrels are replaced to keep the proportion of new oak in the system in balance with the fruit.
https://angasplainswines.com.au/