Heward Estate wines South Australia Mannum

‘Heward Estate' - Vineyard on the Murray River in South Australia

Home of 'Mannum Cliffs' wine near Mannum on the Murray River SA

Mick and Jo Heward family purchased the property in 1999, although it was settled in the 1800's the property was never used for growing of wine grapes prior to the Heward take over. With Careful planning, hard work and persistence, Mick and Joe with the assistance of Mick's parents created the present vineyard from scratch.

The vineyard which is located 16 kilometres from Mannum on the Bowhill side of the Murray River lays adjacent river. It is a spectacular location nestled just below the river escarpment with a panoramic vista of the Murray River. The location is like an amphitheatre attracting and the all important river breezes which are a major element in the unique quality of our Heward Estate wines.

Planting vines and watching them develop into a mature, grape producing vineyard has been thrilling. Starting from scratch allowed us to develop the vines where and how we saw fit in our experimental endeavour to capture the cool river breezes which we believed would have an influence on the fruit quality.

As it turned out, we were correct in our assumptions. The true hidden secret to the Heward Estate wines are the summer evening breezes. Late afternoon from December into Autumn, breezes rise up from lakes Alexandrina and Albert at the mouth of the Murray and travel up the river valley bringing a fantastic drop in temperature along the way.

This allows the Mannum Cliffs fruit to ripen slowly and evenly
bringing a concentration of flavours and sugars which allow Heward Estate to create quality boutique wine.
the vine roots are entrenched in sandy soil with a bedrock of calcium rich limestone which once again adds to the unique quality of our Mannum Cliffs wine.
We use a modern super efficient pressure compensating drip irrigation system where all residual water is returned to the river as environmental flow.

The river valley structure which was created over millions of years, has provided very few locations where vineyards can flourish. We are indeed fortunate that Heward Estate happens to be one of them.

The remaining 300 acres of the property has been de-stocked and is being revegetated with native bush land and grasses and is now used as a nature reserve where native animals can roam and live free. We have a large population of resident Kangaroos regularly seen in the vineyard, for some strange reason they prefer to roam in the chardonnay patches - we have no idea why but it is certainly a novelty when we show guests around the property.

If your looking for Australian wine that's different - buy our wine online.

Taste the Difference - Wine from the Murray River Region by Heward Estate

Heward Estate on the Murray River in SA

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