The Marron Café, Two Wheeler Creek Wines and Andermel Marron ... a unique 3 in 1 experience ... not to be missed by locals and visitors.
The vineyard, the most westerly on Kangaroo Island is subject to a strong marine influence from the Southern Ocean, with mild summers, moderate rainfall and at times strong winds. Of recent years the rainfall weather pattern has been more unpredictable. The yields are typically low and being some of the latest to ripen on the Island which produces some unique cool climate fruit characteristics.
The vineyard has traditional varieties with cabernet sauvignon and shiraz reds being planted in 1999 and the chardonnay and sauvignon blanc whites planted in 2003.
In the early days there was some hand picking. However there is such difficulty on the Island to obtain sufficient numbers of reliable pickers that all grapes including the whites are now machine harvested - at night if possible and sent to the mainland in tonne bins for processing. There have been some very tasty reds but all medium bodied due to the character of the fruit in this climate. Due to these essentially cool climate conditions in the vineyard there have been some excellent whites, the sauvignon blanc in particular. This has been favourably compared with some top quality New Zealand sauvignon blancs.
To extend the range there is a sparkling shiraz / cabernet, a sparkling chardonnay and more recently there has been a slightly sweeter white wine to suit palates that prefer wine not quite so dry. The Turkey Nest 2 is the current label and is based on a fruity, sauvignon blanc. In addition from native herb leaf grown on the farm, lemon myrtle and aniseed myrtle liqueurs are offered. All wines and the liqueurs are top quality and are very popular at the Cellar Door, in the Marron Cafe, in Kangaroo Island liquor outlets and mail order all around Australia. Mainland outlets may become available in due course but the on-line, mail order works extremely well.
