Philosophy | Viticulture | Winemaking | Brands

Philosophy

At Jones Winery and Vineyard we believe that the quality in our wines does not come from any fancy wine making techniques but rather from the quality of the grapes and the attention to detail that we apply at every step in the production of our wines. Every harvest is different giving every one of our wines their unique character. Our wines have the personality of the magnificent winemaking region of Rutherglen and are certainly made in our style the Jones Style. We strive to make the best wines that we can.

Jones Winery & Vineyard is situated within one of the oldest and continually active wine growing regions in Australia – Rutherglen. Approximately 300 km North East of Victoria's capital, Rutherglen, is central to the 19 wineries that make up the Winemakers of Rutherglen.

The area has a rich history of gold and farming.  Most of the winegrowing properties in the area have been owned and run by the same family for generations. Jones Winery and Vineyard is one of the oldest of these properties and its vineyard was established in the 1860's.

Viticulture

The vineyard is planted around the winery and is not irrigated. The principal grape variety is Shiraz with small plantings of Rutherglen Brown Muscat and Pedro Ximenies. The soils are very old quartz, loam and alluvial red clays that are usually associated with gold mining.

The oldest section of the vineyard is approximately 100 years of age, having been planted at the turn of last century just after phylloxera was discovered in the area. The yields from this 2.5 hectare block are extremely low due to the inherent low vigour of the vines and the number of missing vines in the vineyard (1/2 tonne per hectare). There is also a 4-hectare block of Shiraz vines planted in the early 1970's, which consistently produces a more reasonable 1.5 tonnes per hectare.

The vineyard has undergone a rationalization and restoration process. With some sections of the vineyard being replanted with the help of drip irrigation to help establish the young vines. The total area under vine is currently 8.5Ha. There are plans to expand this, making use of all the available vineyard land.
Climate ……The average Rainfall of the Rutherglen area is 590mm per annum, most of which falls in spring and late autumn. The average sunshine hours are 9.3 with a mean January temperature of 22.3 degrees Celsius. The winters are cold and the summers hot and dry.

Winemaking

A blend of tradition and modern wine making techniques are being used to produce a small range of handcrafted wines. We use the 100-year-old wooden vats that our grandfather and the German family before him used to ferment the wines in. A traditional basket press is used to press that last of the juice from the grapes whilst cooling and heating ensure that all the processes involved in our hand-crafted winemaking techniques occur just as they should.

All our wines are matured in oak barrels. We use a mixture of French and American oak and old and new depending on the wine. The reds undergo malolactic fermentation in barrel. Our white wines are also fermented in oak barrels.

We like to produce wines with character and style that are true to their origins. Our vineyard is unique and gives us grapes of great quality and depth of flavour. Our wines reflect this, but having said this they also have to be good drinks! We like our wines and our food! Therefore the wines we make are textured and structured with rich fruit flavour. But above all they are balanced.

Brands

For us the origin of the grapes, along with their harvest year, is very important in determining the character and personality of a wine. Therefore we have two distinct brands:

Jones Winery & Vineyard - This brand is only used for wines made from grapes that we grow here on our own land. You can find out more about our vineyard by clicking here.

Jones The Winemaker - When we buy grapes in from other growers the wines that make are all sold under this label. We work with growers in the local region to produce the quality required for the wines under this label.

On the back label of all our wines the origin of the grapes is clearly marked in accordance with the Australian Wine labeling laws. It is our policy to sell from our cellar door only wines that have been made by us.