Tel Darra is a bit of a pipe dream, inspired by the reclusive mushroom wizards of my favorite childhood fantasy series. It's a vineyard whose main priority is fungal biodiversity and conservation.
It aims to focus on experimentation and play, with faith that the more complex and resilient the ecology becomes, the more favorable an expression of terroir will be expressed in the wines. Hopefully, along the way, the vineyard will become somewhere exciting to play, drawing together community.
The logo is based off of my patron fungi, Cyttaria gunnii. A Gondwanan relic, it grows on galls sprouting from endemic Nothofagus trees, with relatives in New Zealand and Patagonia. These threatened cool temperate rain-forest trees will one day form a network across Moondarra, acting as wildlife corridors and fire retardant windbreaks for cattle. One day perhaps, these curious edible Cyttaria with 15% sugar will be abundant enough to experiment with fermentation, as their cousins in Chile and Argentina are used by first nations people.