 is a family owned
and operated business entering into it's fifth generation
and is currently managed by Darren Lloyd and his wife Vicki.
The Gateway to Lloyds Vineyard |
Situated at Nyah, in the Murray Valley region of Northern
Victoria, it is the only certified bio-dynamic vineyard
in the region producing the World's Largest Variety
of Pure Certified Bio-dynamic Grape Juices, as well
as apricot, peach and prune juices, "goodnight" nightcap
and wine vinegar.
Small quantities of jams and dried fruits are also produced
in season. Table grapes and fresh stone fruit produced
on the vineyard are sent to organic fresh fruit wholesalers
in the major cities when demand requires. |
The three vineyards, totalling 60 acres at present are farmed
according to biodynamic standards of organic agriculture and
are certified with Australian Certified Organic (A.C.O). Lloyd's
juices are distributed throughout Australia through all good
health food outlets, and are also exported to New Zealand,
Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia.
In 1923, Alfred Lloyd and his wife Florence, moved to the
Nyah Irrigation district from Naracoorte, South Australia.
Alfred was a blacksmith by trade and had developed emphysema
at a relatively young age from inhaling the coal dust and
soot which was all part of the trade. His doctor advised him
to move to a warmer climate to help alleviate his condition.
Some friends, who knew the area told him that Nyah would be
the perfect place for them to settle and that he could take
on a new trade as a viticulturist because the dried fruit
industry was doing well at the time. They bought a vineyard
just across the Murray River from Nyah in Koraleigh, New South
Wales and settled there for some 30 years on.
Alfred's son Edgar and his wife Evelyn moved to Nyah in 1926
and purchased their own vineyard. There were no herbicides
or artificial fertilisers back in those days. Vine rows were
cultivated with a crazy plough towed behind a Clydesdale horse.
The farm was relatively self-sufficient and there was always
a house cow. On-farm manures were composted and spread out
in spring as a matter of common practice. Vine disease was
controlled with bordeaux and sulphur sprays. Natural predators
kept insect numbers to a minimum, and some homeopathic sprays
were also made on farm for pest control.
Around the mid 1950's Edgar seized an opportunity to purchase
another vineyard directly opposite their own, for his son
Ian, which today is the home of "Lloyd's Vineyard". Ian and
his wife Violet worked hard together developing the vineyard
to what it is today.
The Vineyards |
Organic farming
techniques had always been common practice on the vineyards.
Ian had never considered embracing the chemical farming
evolution. He could see the long term effects it placed
on the environment and human health, and therefore was
determined to continue with his organic principals,
despite the criticism he endured.
In the early 1970's Ian studied the bio-dynamic methods
of agriculture in depth, and was convinced that the
holistic approach and methods involved were necessary
for optimal soil and plant health and wellbeing, and
ultimately the health of the consumer. |
Ian became registered with Demeter in the mid 1970's and then
later with the Biological Farmers of Australia at the time
of its inception in the early 1990's. Ian Lloyd's youngest
son, Darren continues to farm according to the bio-dynamic
principles. The vineyards produce 15 varieties of grapes,
both for juicing and table and a variety of stone fruit as
well.
With Ian's untiring passion with bio-dynamics and health,
he could see a definite market for a completely unadulterated
grape juice, to help those who were on grape cures and grape
fasts to continue on when the availability of fresh chemical
free grapes were inconsistent or completely unavailable. Violet
made the very first experimental batch of pure grape juice
in her kitchen, and from there Ian set about building a factory
including bottling facilities to make commercial quantities
of the product. In 1977, the very first season of Lloyd's
Pure Grape Juice was produced and after selling out within
the first three months, Ian could see that the premises had
to expand and he built a second processing facility along
side the first. Almost 30 years on Lloyd's Vineyard continues
to be the World's Largest producer of Certified Bio-dynamic
Grape Juices in 10 varieties.
All Lloyd's products are produced with purity in mind. All
the products are made with certified bio-dynamic or organic
fruit. No preservatives, colourings, flavourings, additives
or aids to manufacture are used. The key points to consider
when purchasing our products are:
Our juices are made from fresh, ripe, quality fruit and are processed
and packaged immediately. None of our juices are made from reconstituted
fruit juice. Concentrate is generally made by boiling fruit juice
under vacuum. The juice boils at lower temperatures and is generally
reduced to one quarter of its original volume. Reconstituted fruit
juice is just concentrate with the required amount of water added
to bring it back to its original state. Reconstituted fruit juice
takes on a different flavour to fresh pressed juice, and the enzymes
are generally destroyed in the concentration process.
Many "Australian" fruit juices are made from imported concentrates
as they are cheaper to import than they are to produce here
in Australia. We pride ourselves in offering the consumer
certified organic products grown here in Australia, in most
cases from our own vineyards.
Every 750ml bottle of Lloyd's 100% Pure Grape Juice is equivalent
to 1.2kg of fresh grapes. Our grapes are harvested at their
ripest stage and therefore the juices can stand diluting with
up to 50% water or mineral water. This makes our juices very
economical when compared to the cost of purchasing fresh certified
biodynamic grapes in season and convenient given that they
are available all year round.
Our fruit juices do not endure the extreme temperature fluctuations
associated with pasteurisation as many other fruit juices
do. Whilst our juices are in effect "pasteurised", our process
is a much gentler one, heating to lower temperatures than
conventional pasteurisation methods, without the need for
preservatives, resulting in a more nutritious product with
many of the enzymes still present in a living product.
Our juices are naturally vacuum sealed and contain no preservatives.
Ascorbic acid is one of the most common "hidden preservatives"
found in manufactured fruit juice. Ascorbic acid is added
to many fruit juices as "Added Vitamin C" which infact acts
to preserve and prevent spoilage from oxidisation. Ascorbic
acid is sometimes added to fruit juices at many times the
average daily recommended allowance, People who have diabetes,
kidney disease, food sensitivities, and blood thinning problems
should avoid excessive amounts of ascorbic acid. Definitely
NO SULPHITES
are used in our juices.
Many fruit
juices available today are labelled as a particular type or
variety, but the ingredients state the addition of several
other cheaper fruit juices including other additives and aids
to manufacture. Lloyd's Organic Harvest fruit juices are exactly
as they are stated on the label. No blends of other juices
are added to our juices.
The Juice Factory amongst the
Vines |
Weed
Control is managed by cultivation
only. Mechanical under-vine weeding removes the bank
of weeds from under the vines. This bank is later thrown
back under the vines and any weeds growing through this
bank later are mechanically knifed. Weeds between the
rows of vines are either slashed or disced depending
on the time of the season. Flame and steam weeding is
not generally practiced as this can destroy beneficial
bacteria and microbes that live close to the surface
of the soil. Herbicide use is strictly prohibited.
Green Manure Crops
are planted late Autumn between the rows of vines and
consist of beans, peas, oats and clovers. This is grown
for nitrogen fixation and the green tops are forage
harvested and included in the compost heap for added
organic matter. |
Fertilising
is done with composted animal manures, composted green manure
and bio-dynamic preparations 502-507 during the spring. Bio-dynamic
preparation 500 is sprayed out onto the soil in Autumn and
spring.
Disease is
controlled with the use of wettable sulphur for powdery mildew
and generally only three applications per season, with the
last spray applied in November, some three months before harvest.
Copper is used in its lowest application rate to control and
prevent downy mildew only if seasonal conditions are suitable
for the spread of this disease. Whilst other vine diseases
are possible, a healthy organic vine has substantially increased
resistance, so the control of these diseases is invariably
unnecessary.
Pests
are controlled with natural predators. Vine spiders and frill
neck lizards proliferate throughout the vineyards and in turn
feed on insects that would otherwise do damage to the delicate
crops. This is not 100% pest control, however the use of chemical
pesticides in conventional vineyards is becoming increasingly
demanding due to the chemical resistance the pests develop
over time. Stronger pesticides are then needed to kill off
these pests, which is never a 100% success rate anyway.
Bird control
is achieved by using white homing pigeons. Dark fruit eating
birds are "scared" off by the homing pigeons territorial flying
habits. White homing pigeons are only grain eating birds and
scout out looking for grain and seeds during the day, but
never venturing much further that one or two km from their
nesting loft. It appears that the white colour and the flocking
habits of these birds ward off the coloured fruit eating birds.
Whether they believe that the pigeons are white hawks remains
unknown, however it is a cheap and ecologically viable approach
to poisonous chemical sprays, deafening gas canons and nerve
affecting noise emitters.
Pruning
is all done by hand. Many of our vines are old, some exceeding
100 years, so minimal pruning is not possible. Many vineyards
today resort to minimal pruning or hedging. This may be a
time saver, however after two or three years of this pruning
method the vine develops a lot of dead wood which then has
to be pruned out by hand, and new growth is stunted but dense
due to the oversupply of buds from exceptionally long spurs.
Air flow can be reduced and the risks of disease can increase.
Harvesting
is also done by hand. Bunches are carefully hand picked from
the vine and placed into buckets to avoid damage to the berries.
In making grape juice we must avoid any possibility of early
fermentation taking place, so good sound bunches of grapes
are essential. Mechanical harvesting thrashes the berries
from the vines. In many cases the stems are left on the vine
and the split berries and juice are all that end up in the
fruit bin. To prevent early fermentation from wild yeasts,
growers add sodium-metabisulphite to the harvested mash. Other
unbelievable foreign matter can end up in bins of mechanically
harvested fruit as well.
We do all this to produce the cleanest and purest produce
possible, to benefit the consumer who has an intolerance to
our chemical world and for the consumer who just wants good
tasting products. It takes a lot of time and effort, but we
think it's worth it as sustainable organic agriculture lives
on forever.
Lloyd’s Vineyard were awarded
Runner Up for
the Best Organic Product at the Inaugural OFA
Awards in Sydney in August 2001. |
