Anton van Klopper arrived in the Adelaide Hills from South Africa with a first-class degree in agricultural science and oenology, and an appetite for making wine that could not be planned in advance. His label Lucy Margaux has since become one of the founding references of Australian natural wine.
Backstory
Van Klopper completed his degree at the University of Adelaide in 2001 and worked harvests in Germany, New Zealand, and the United States before purchasing a cherry orchard in the Adelaide Hills in 2002. He converted the land to vines and made his first estate vintage in 2007. He was a founding member of The Natural Selection Theory, the loose collective that helped put Basket Range on the natural wine map alongside James Erskine and Tom Shobbrook.
The Region
Basket Range is a small community in the Adelaide Hills at elevations around 400 metres. Its cool, wet winters and mild summers suit cool-climate varieties, and the area has become synonymous with Australia's low-intervention movement. Van Klopper works only with organically farmed fruit, whether from his own vines or from growers he trusts.
Vineyards and Farming
The estate is biodynamically farmed, guided by Anton's study of Goethe's ideas about plant metamorphosis and an emphasis on biodiversity across the property. He sources organically grown grapes to supplement his own fruit, and has reduced his total crush to around 60 tonnes per year to focus on quality. Varieties include Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Sangiovese, and Mencia.
Winemaking
The cellar is intentionally minimal: a de-stemmer, a press, and a hand bottler are the primary machines. Van Klopper uses neutral vessels including old barrels, ceramic, and cement, with no temperature control and no additions at any stage. Lucy Margaux wines are entirely sulfur-free, not even a trace at bottling. Each blend is decided just before bottling, and van Klopper draws the label himself on that same day.
The Wines
The range shifts with each vintage but typically includes a Vino Rosso, Vino Bianco, a skin-contact white, Pinot Noir, and occasional single-variety bottlings such as Sangiovese and Mencia. Wines are low in alcohol, averaging 11.5 to 12 percent, and are vinified to be fresh, energetic, and true to their vintage rather than any fixed recipe.
