The vineyard where all of the fruit for the Chalmers wines is grown is on the banks of the Murray River in south western NSW in the GI region “Murray Darling”.

The Chalmers family has owned this property since the 1930’s when Bruce’s father and uncle came here as wheat and sheep farmers. Bruce has lived on the property all his life and from a young age saw horticulture, in particular viticulture, as the way forward for utilising the acres of arable sandy-loam overlaying an ancient limestone bedrock.

In the seventies Bruce and his wife Jenni began to establish a corner of the family property, which Bruce had purchased from his uncle, and after some years of market gardening they planted their first patch of vineyard in 1985, and went on to establish Chalmers Nurseries in 1989, quickly growing into Australia’s busiest nursery.

During the 90’s the vineyard grew from 20 acres to 100 to 500 and now the Chalmers vineyards amount to over 1600 acres encompassing over 80 varieties and 150 clones. While only a small percentage of this vineyard produces the fruit for the Chalmers wines, all of the vines are tended with the same intensive and immaculate care.

The techniques employed in the vineyard to ensure the quality of the fruit are extensive. The process begins with pruning, which is nearly all done by hand and using varied techniques depending on the particular requirement of the variety.

Trellising methods are also varied according to variety however most of the fruit for the Chalmers label is grown on traditional VSP (vertical shoot positioning) trellis with a single cordon and three pairs of foliage wires which are lifted by hand at precise times throughout the growing season to expose the fruit to sunlight for ripening and flavour development.

Yields are kept at a low level by the combination of a number of techniques. Shoot thinning, bunch thinning and very carefully measured and implemented irrigation regimes keep the crops at the right level maintaining a perfect balance between root system, foliage and fruit in the vine.