The Chalmers Nursery Collection

The Nursery

Helping Shape the Future of Australian Wine

The Chalmers Merbein property is home to the Chalmers Nursery Collection, a catalogue of around 100 varieties and clones, with a primary focus on climate-apt Italian grapes. The collection also includes a significant boost to the clonal material available for key hero varieties, such as Nebbiolo, Sangiovese and Barbera. The nursery supplies grafted vines, rootlings and cuttings to vineyards across the country.

Working with Vivai Cooperativi Rauscedo (VCR) and, through a connection with Alberto Antonini and Stefano Dini, Gruppo Matura (a collective of winemakers and agronomists collaborating to further Italian wine, both there and abroad) Chalmers source the best material available for importation. That is an ongoing program, with new varieties and clones continually assessed, and always with suitability to climatic conditions allied with high-quality, distinctive wine production in mind.

In the 1980s, Bruce and Jenni Chalmers were principally fruit and vegetable growers when a contract to graft grapevines turned into a burgeoning business, becoming Australia’s largest wine-grape nursery providers by the mid-’90s. It was not long after that when the enterprise acquired an Italian accent, inspired by a friendship with Dr Rod Bonfiglioli and Stefano de Pieri that led to the exploration of Italian grapes that were suited not just to their Murray Darling base, but also to many regions around the country.

In 1998, Chalmers became the exclusive Australian agent for VCR, importing around 70 grape varieties and clones that had never previously been available here. That first tranche of vines was introduced in 2000, with planting beginning in earnest. That first shipment notably included varieties that have become fixtures of our vinous landscape, including Nero d’Avola, Vermentino, Fiano, Aglianico, Montepulciano and Sagrantino.

That first shipment also included cuttings of Schioppettino, Negroamaro, Marzemino, Malvasia Istriana and Nosiola, amongst others. Since then, varieties and clones have been added over the years, including Ansonica, Carricante, Falanghina, Grechetto, Pecorino, Piedirosso, Ribolla Gialla, Teroldego and Uva di Troia, as well as the long awaited quarantine clearance of Nerello Mascalese.

The Chalmers vine material is rigorously tested in both the home Merbein Vineyard, in the Murray Darling, and in the Heathcote Vineyard on the Mount Camel Range, while also undergoing extensive winemaking trials in Merbein. Those processes inform the path for subsequent Chalmers plantings and estate wines, but also provide an invaluable resource for nursery clients, with more than two million vines from these imported varieties planted, and across every Australian winegrowing region.

The Australian wine landscape has been forever reshaped with varieties that are suited to our changing climate and evolving drinking habits, but more than that, they are ideal for forward-thinking growers that prize environmental goals. They need less water and less intervention in general, and they can produce exceptional fruit in even the most demanding climates. Planted in the right places and farmed well, these emerging varieties are inherently less taxing on the environment – they are models of sustainability.