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Philosophy The philosophy behind Tarrangower Estate is to respect nature and to work with it to achieve and maintain a healthy environment, and to produce natural, complex and sensuous wines. Viticultural management is based around bio-diversity through the use of many clones of any given variety, "organic fertilizers", good canopy management, and the use of natural predators to control pest species of insects and other animals. Long term the aim is to move to bio-dynamic principles to maintain the health of the plants and soil (this process has commenced). The wines are naturally made individual wines produced in small quantities. The characteristics sought in Tarrangower Estate wines are: good mouth feel, deep colour, rich fruit flavours, good body, balanced acids and well integrated tannins. These wines are made for longevity. These characteristics are achieved in Tarrangower Estate wines as a result of a concerted effort to experiment with different "natural" techniques in both red and white winemaking. In white wine making this has involved experiments (together with Julian West of Hawksmoor Winery) in hyper-oxidation techniques which have given exciting results in the 1998 and 1999 Chardonnays. In the reds experimentation had concentrated on the treatment of wines to achieve good tannin balance. Ultimately we think great wines are made from good fruit, with the judicious use of oxygen and the patience to give nature the time to pull it all together. Like Gerard Chave of Domaine J.L.Chave, Hermitage we also think: "It is sad that few people understand naturally made, individual wines. Technology has progressed to the point that far too many wines lack the taste of their place of origin and resemble one another. Terroir, more than anything, is an expression of finesse and complexity." (From Robert M. Park Jr, Wines of the Rhône Valley, Simon & Schuster, New York, (1997)) Our wines are made for the few people who do, and those adventurous people who would like to understand, naturally made individual wines.

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