By Discover the Adelaide Hills · · 7 min read
Low-intervention, biodynamic and organic - the Adelaide Hills have quietly become a centre of gravity for Australia's natural-wine movement.
Twenty years ago, "natural wine" in South Australia was a fringe pursuit. Today, the Adelaide Hills are one of its strongholds.
The reasons start in the vineyard. The Hills' cool climate, high elevation and patchwork of small growers make it well suited to the kind of careful, lower-intervention farming that natural winemaking demands. Several estates have farmed biodynamically for years, treating the vineyard as a living system rather than a factory floor.
A community of makers
What sets the Hills apart, though, is the community. A cluster of small producers around Lenswood, Basket Range and Uraidla share equipment, ideas and a willingness to experiment - skin-contact whites, cloudy pet-nats, field blends picked early for freshness.
Where to taste it
The best way in is at the source. Book a tasting with a biodynamic producer - Ngeringa near Mount Barker, for one, opens by appointment on Fridays and Sundays - and look for small Hills labels on wine lists and in bottle shops. For drinkers raised on polished commercial styles, it can be a revelation: wines that taste of a particular place, a particular season, a particular hand.