Our Vineyards
John’s son David was the first vigneron in the area to replant with Phylloxera-resistant stock. Colin and Malcolm, continued the plantings, using only the best clones to graft on to new rootlings.
Today Bernard Morey is our viticulturist and works closely with Jules and the team to tend the family vineyards. Our philosophy is simple, “Quality at the expense of quantity is our aim. We assist nature, we don’t seek to dominate her.”
The key to the special varieties that we grow is Rutherglen’s continental climate which provides long mild and dry autumn weather allowing late ripening varieties like Trebbiano and Durif to slowly develop a full and complex spectrum of flavours. It also allows the Muscat and Topaque grapes to hang on the vine and reach amazing sweetness and flavour.
“Quality at the expense of quantity is our
aim. We assist nature, we don’t seek to
dominate her.”
Our vines are all planted on ‘Rutherglen loam’ with buckshot sub soil providing the earthy/ferrous character in many of our wines.
Our vineyards total around 70 hectares (172 acres) of trialled and proven varieties all situated entirely within the defined Rutherglen Wine Region. Varietal and clonal selection criteria is based on their suitability to the Rutherglen environment.
Individual trellising and management techniques are employed to maximize the potential of each variety.
White varieties include riesling, chardonnay, roussanne, viognier and trebbiano. Red varieties include shiraz, the rare durif, tempranillo, cabernet sauvignon and malbec. Our world renowned Rutherglen Muscats are made from the variety muscat à petits grains rouge, and our Rutherglen Topaque from muscadelle.
Campbells run a continuous vine improvement, varietal and clonal selection program. Our aim is to grow the best grape varieties suited to the Rutherglen region. We have expanded our nursery block fondly referred to as our ‘Sixties Block’. Planted in the Sixties, the block has more than forty white, red and Portuguese port varieties originally planted to test their suitability to Rutherglen.
