SINCE starting his viticultural career in McLaren Vale - which seemed a given considering he is a fifth-generation descendant of that region's celebrated wine industry pioneer, Thomas Hardy - Geoff Hardy has pursued the widest possible vinous interests with restless vigour. These include not only owning stakes in several wineries but also planting vineyards across many districts and embracing many grape varieties. "I find it all so interesting. I just want to keep exploring all those interests," Geoff explains with a shrug.
He was brave enough to buy a vineyard at the tender age of 24 - the superb 32ha Pertaringa site at McLaren Vale - in 1981, in partnership with former Ryecroft Vineyards manager Ian Leask, but even that couldn't quench Geoff's thirst for adventure. "It was already well established, so there weren't so many challenges there," he says. "Shiraz and McLaren Vale is such a perfect marriage and its output was so reliable that it really didn't leave much room to do anything new."
Typically, Geoff understates the scale of his activity: Pertaringa still has 14 varieties planted, with a few rows of tannat here and a few of petit verdot there, just to see how they perform. Not surprisingly, though, this small-scale dabbling was not satisfying enough, so Geoff looked to establish vines in an entirely new area - high in the southern Mt Lofty Ranges above McLaren Flat, at Kuitpo.
"Everyone presumed this was part of McLaren Vale because of its proximity on the map, but I've insisted on calling it part of the Adelaide Hills zone, because it's 350m above sea level, 2.5C cooler than the vales, and crops ripen between two and three weeks later," he says. "It's a cool climate vineyard, and I really wanted to promote that fact."
Geoff's decision to establish 30ha of vineyards at Kuitpo in 1987 was vindicated the first year he released his rebranded K1 wines, winning the award for best wine of the 2003 Adelaide Hills Wine Show with his 2001 Adelaide Hills Shiraz. His pioneering work at Kuitpo had caused an initial ruckus when a 1993 vintage shiraz released under the former Geoff Hardy label won the first Qantas Great Australian Shiraz Challenge in 1995, confounding judges with such quality coming from an unknown region. Geoff's faith in Kuitpo has been further endorsed by consumers, with most stock selling out across three quality tiers of K1 wines - Silver label, Gold Label and the Hand Crafted label for trial wines sold only in small quantities at cellar door.
However, Kuitpo represents only part of Geoff's substantial vineyard holdings and interests. In 1993 he planted 160ha at Wirrega, near Bordertown, and soon after planted the 215ha Angas vineyards for Zonte's Footstep Wines (he's a part-owner) near Langhorne Creek, which includes the largest crop of lagrein in the State. These vineyards provide the backbone of the Heartland wine brand, in which Geoff has a stake. He is also part of the consortium that owns Barossa Vintners winery at Tanunda, with partners who include Rockford's Robert O'Callaghan, Woodstock's Scott Collett, Reg and Kym Tolley, Stephen and Prue Henschke, the Thomson family of Woolpunda, Grant Tilbrook and the Glaetzer family.
Despite such widespread activity, the K1 vineyard is now home base for Geoff, evident in the magnificent timber office/tasting room/entertaining lodge built over the main dam in the centre of the property. While the site is now well established, he still has further plans, including the construction of his own winery within six years. He also keeps tinkering with vines to maximise quality and consistency. Driving around the property, he identifies individual rows that could perform better and considers how to achieve that. "I'm never bored here. I can always tamper with bits that aren't quite right."
Parts of the property have been especially vigorous workhorses. One patch of vines supplied up to five million cuttings for commercial sale over 15 years, providing the foundation of Geoff's viticultural activity. It's now a minor business interest, although there is strong demand for exotic varieties he propagates, from tannat, lagrein, siegerebe and sylvaner to tempranillo.
Some of those new vines have been planted in the Kuitpo neighbourhood, and Geoff is pleased that vineyards in the region have grown and prospered since following his lead. He's also had an active hand in planting plots for neighbours, including real estate agent Anthony Toop and movie director Scott Hicks, whose sprawling Yacca Paddock vineyard contains everything from tempranillo, dolcetto, durif, tannat and arneis to reisling, super-premium chardonnay and six clones of merlot.
Geoff speaks with a mixture of pride and excitement as he drives around these sites, pointing out vines that work best in certain locations, such as pristine rows of sauvignon blanc he planted initially to supply Shaw & Smith winery 22 years ago, but with a fair portion now retained for his own notable K1 sauvignon blanc. He's even a champion for less popular varieties, professing a deep affection for semillon - "It's perfect for our climate; it should be the shiraz of Australia's white grape varieties" - and featuring it prominently in a delicious blend with viognier he has released under the K1 label for the past three years. "I really do think it would be silly to lose a grape variety simply because it's not fashionable."
In similar vein, he has chosen cabernet sauvignon as the backbone of K1's icon wine, the Tzimmukin, a blend of 30 per cent shiraz and 70 per cent cabernet sauvignon that is picked early and dried in baskets using the Amarone method before fermentation, to create a rich, even palate and flavours that work in harmony.
Perhaps the most notable site at Kuitpo is the highest plot on Geoff's property, where shiraz that is now growing at two levels on high trellising was the first patch of vines planted at K1, and hasn't even been irrigated for the past 17 years. This produces the type of rich, cool climate shiraz that enabled Geoff's brave K1 venture to be taken seriously. It hasn't been easy though; the shiraz came under serious scrutiny after its initial accolades, when the vines didn't produce great fruit as they went through a burst of vigour about five years after planting, before settling into outstanding mature vines.
Through this brief period, Geoff wondered whether his Kuitpo experiment had been so good after all, although his resolve remained firm and has been rewarded with long-term wine show and commercial success. "It's a wonderful site here, but I'm still a learner. I reckon the best from this area is yet to come."
by Paul Hardy
