Started in 2012, Bondar is the vision of husband and wife team Andre Bondar and Selina Kelly. Andre, with a history as a winemaker in the Adelaide Hills and Selina with a background in marketing and law, have planted roots (literally) in the north of McLaren Vale, on the border of Blewitt Springs and the Beautiful View (Seaview) subregions. Their new home is the Rayner Vineyard on Chalk Hill Road in McLaren Vale, where the oldest vines date back to the 1950s. Plantings of bush vine Grenache are up to 50 years old and Shiraz up to 65 years are already in play, while newer, more close planted Counoise (one of the 13 Châteauneuf varieties) has been recently planted, and Mataro, Carignan and Cinsault are on the horizon. The vineyards are in the process of transitioning to progressively more organic management, which we are sure will see quality hit even greater heights. There will always be purchased fruit as well but ultimately, it seems likely that Bondar’s finest wines will come from their own sites.
Regardless of the source of fruit, Andre and Selina want to make, in their own words, ‘... wines that are bright, structured, mid-weight, yet concentrated in flavour, and with a savoury element’. And of course they want to make the finest quality possible. If the pair’s initial releases are anything to go by (and they are), we have much to look forward to from this producer. The early wines have had a terrific response in the trade and they also picked up James Halliday’s Best New Winery (2017).
McLAREN VALE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Exciting times are these for Australian wine. Times when quality small producers are popping up everywhere across the viticultural landscape. Times when many of these producers that are striving to make delicious, lighter bodied, fresher, purer, more digestible wines that have a strong sense of place. And now, most significantly, it is a time when some of these producers are realising that it is in the vineyard, more specifically the way their vineyards are planted and the way they are managed, that will ultimately determine the quality and uniqueness of the wines they are able to produce. Bondar are certainly at the heart of this zeitgeist.
John & Faye Parker established Parker Estate in 1985, planting the Abbey Vineyard with Reynell Selection Cabernet vines.
Parker Coonawarra Estate
One of Australia’s first and finest cool-climate wine growing regions, the maritime influence of the Southern Ocean exposes the district to even greater cooling due to the seasonal upwelling of dark blue water streams from Antarctica.
Exciting times are these for Australian wine. Times when quality small producers are popping up everywhere across the viticultural landscape. Times when many of these producers that are striving to make delicious, lighter bodied, fresher, purer, more digestible wines that have a strong sense of place. And now, most significantly, it is a time when some of these producers are realising that it is in the vineyard, more specifically the way their vineyards are planted and the way they are managed, that will ultimately determine the quality and uniqueness of the wines they are able to produce. Bondar are certainly at the heart of this zeitgeist.
At 1492 Growing Degree Days (GDD) Coonawarra is slightly cooler than Bordeaux, and significantly more so than the Napa Valley and Margaret River regions. Above all, Coonawarra is know for it’s 27km long and 2km wide cigar-shaped outcrop of ancient Terra Rossa soils which rest over a hard limestone cap. Below this lies an aquifer which was once an ancient seabed. Today the combination of the aquifer, cool climate and free draining Terra Rossa soils make this unique location ideal for the highest standards of wine-growing.
Exciting times are these for Australian wine. Times when quality small producers are popping up everywhere across the viticultural landscape. Times when many of these producers that are striving to make delicious, lighter bodied, fresher, purer, more digestible wines that have a strong sense of place. And now, most significantly, it is a time when some of these producers are realising that it is in the vineyard, more specifically the way their vineyards are planted and the way they are managed, that will ultimately determine the quality and uniqueness of the wines they are able to produce. Bondar are certainly at the heart of this zeitgeist.
The limestone that lies under this area is porous and has excellent water retention, providing a valuable source of supplementary water during dry periods. Coonawarra Terra Rossa soil is the oldest and most fertile of the ‘Limestone Coast’ soils, and is composed largely of fine silica particles, aeolian clay and organic matter.
Lying south of Latitude 37, Coonawarra has a cooler climate than many other Australian grape-growing regions. This results in a long growing season marked by sunny, warm and dry days followed by cool evenings; an ideal combination for intense flavour development in fruit, for which Coonawarra is renowned.
