Chris Ringland lives to grow harvests of peerless quality fruit and make tiny amounts of the most memorable wine
Ringland has worked at the eminent Rockford in Barossa, as well as for distinguished estates in Spain, Italy and America. Although he lived in the Barossa since the early 1980s, he was fortunate enough to purchase a property on the Barossa Ranges in 1994. At 1,500 ft above sea level, Chris Ringland has taken his time to restore the seven acre site which was planted in 1910. It took ten years. When he purchased the property, the northern, southeast facing sector, surrounding the old settlers cottage, was bare pasture. Ringland grazed sheep here for a few years, before planting 250 olive saplings in 2000, with the view of producing small amounts of olive oil. Dry grown, they have produced under 100 litres of olive oil in their lifetime. There is nothing quite as satisfying as home grown olive oil. Home grown Shiraz beats it, but not by all that much. Chris Ringland»
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