Made Kindly Magazine by Zig Zag Rd Wines

MADE KINDLY
IT TAKES A
VILLAGE
THE RHYTHMS
OF ZIG ZAG RD
MAGAZINE
17
KIND FOLK
zigzagwines.com.au

WELCOME
Welcome to our first Made Kindly
magazine and to Zig Zag Rd/Kind
Folk Wines.
We are Harriet and Henry Churchill
and along with our two young sons
and a couple of amazing team
members, we run Zig Zag Rd. Wines.
Our small cellar door, winery and
heritage vineyard (many of the
vines are turning a cool 50 next
year) is an hour’s drive north
of Melbourne in the misty Macedon
Ranges. We make small-batch wines
and are going through a process to
shift our farm to more regenerative
farming practices.
But, being Brits originally, we
don’t have any family here to help
us out during tough times or long
harvests and so rely heavily on the
support of our community to prop us
up and help us flourish. The first
year we were so blown away by the
kindness of our community that we
decided to bring out a brand new
wine label to celebrate these folks.
So each year, we put the names of 10
wonderful humans on our Kind Folk
wine bottles. It’s a tiny gesture
of thanks for the support and love
they’ve given us in different ways.
The Kind Folk range is a little
different from our more classic Zig
Zag Rd range and lets us have a bit
of fun with the winemaking too.
Henry, Harriet and
Junior Winemakers Albert & Wilbur
You’ll taste barrel fermented cloudy
rose, fun and sparkling petillant
naturels that change each year and wildfermented
reds.
And what you’re reading now is another
way we wanted to spotlight some of the
Kind Folk that we’ve got on the label
over the past couple of years. The signs
each person holds is one of the reasons
they ended up on the bottle (but won’t
be the only reason) and we just thought
their story needed a little focus. There
are many, many more Kind Folk than
those highlighted here, and we hope to
introduce you to them in due course.
We hope you enjoy reading a little about
our Kind Folk and their stories, and we
hope you enjoy the wine we made.
We acknowledge the Dja Dja Wurrung
Traditional Owners as custodians
of the land and ancient soil on
which we grow our grapes and make
our wine.
Made Kindly Magazine is owned and published
electronically by Zig Zag Rd. Copyright 2021
Zig Zag Rd. All rights reserved. No part of this
electronic or printed magazine may be reproduced
without the written consent of Zig Zag Rd.
Requests for permission should be directed to:
Henry and Harriet Churchill at
hello@zigzagwines.com.au.
This magazine was Kindly photographed by Clair
Der Wort Photography.
2
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instagram.com/zigzagwines
zigzagwines.com.au

Kindly illustrated by
Kirsty Moegerlein
This poster shows the seasons at Zig Zag
Rd. and the comings and goings of people
and wildlife. We’ve only been on the farm
for four years but we were curious to start
to tune into the way each season changes in
subtle ways. This is an ancient rhythm, not
made up of four tidy seasons, that the Dja
Dja Wurrung have understood for millennia.
This poster shows only what we
observed or what we did for that
year (which is why in some cases
the things we did in the vines
were too late due to falling
behind with workload!)

IT TAKES
A VILLAGE
WHAT IS MYCELIUM?
“Mycelium is an inter-connected underground fungal web that connects plants
together. Healthy soils have an abundance of mycorrhizae, and we are learning
to farm in a way that can rebuild these networks. We include mycelium as the
background image on our Kind Folk labels because of our regenerative approach to
farming, and because of the metaphor of inter-connected human communities. Both
things are core to our aspirations.”
4

NEW
ROSE
We’re launching our new
vintage rose along with
this magazine.
This is a barrel-fermented,
cloudy rose and the second
we’ve made at Zig Zag Rd
after a sell-out success
last year. Made by us at
the winery, from our 1972
vines.
SOME
WINE
TASTING
STUFF
We pressed immediately from the
vineyard using a large basket
press. The juice then wild
fermented in seasoned French
barrels. We made this to be a
cloudy rose and we love how it
looks so beautiful and unusual,
whilst still having body and
character. It’s not for the fainthearted,
with plenty of lovely
natural sediments floating around.
In fact, give it a little roll
before you open the bottle and mix
all that goodness in. We think the
creaminess and weight give it such
an interesting and full mouthfeel.
5

17 KIND
ASHA H
Asha is our chief beautifying
officer in that she somehow takes
all of the threads of what we give
her and turns them into an elegant
and working website. But more
importantly, she saved us as the
first of the pandemic restrictions
hit back in March 2020 and within
hours had our online store up and
running. That act did much to save
our business as we lost a lot of
our sales outlets, as so many did,
overnight.
CLAIR D
Clair should be on our Kind Folk
bottles year in and year out.
She is always up for capturing a
moment from behind the lens (this
is a rare photo of her in front
of it), and does it effortlessly,
beautifully and with grace whilst
her kids and dogs run around her
feet. Anyone that can make us
feel that relaxed whilst taking a
photo deserves to be celebrated.
We exchange photos for wine, and
it’s a match made in heaven for
both of us, we hope!
6

FOLK
MATILDA F (AND CARLENA AND
DAMIAN)
Matilda (and in truth her parents,
although she’s a budding carpenter),
not only crafted our bar from
recycled Tasmanian oak and old
Shiraz barrels from our winery, but
also fitted new (up-cycled) windows
and doors into the cellar door to
give it all a new look. These guys
quietly walk the talk. Everything
they build or create (and they
are both carpenters) is mindfully
curated, reclaimed from older
materials.
DE C (AND DUCK)
As part of one of our microenterprises,
we collaborated with
De (who is based in Malmsbury) to
run ducks and chickens through the
vineyard. This was to experiment
how we could improve the soil
through the birds doing their
ducky / chooky thing; scratching,
foraging and pooing all to improve
soil health. And we can’t tell
you how many times De has brought
round a meal and left it piping
hot on our doorstep in times of
need.
7

JEREMY G, SCOTT R,
MADANA H (MADDIE),
AND JEFF D
These four are just a few of the
incredible folks that have either lived
for periods of time on the farm, or have
lived nearby and supported in more ways
than we can count. We aren’t talking
glamorous instagram-able stuff here like
foot-stomping the grapes (although they’ve
all done that too) but these guys are here
for us when the going gets tough. For the
nitty gritty times when we have nothing
left in us and need a grandma or a mum
nearby, when we need nourishing meals,
or a tidy kitchen or someone to hold the
baby whilst we nap for five minutes. These
guys literally pick us up off the floor.
Across is a photo of Katie H (chequered
shirt) who like Maddie was our backbone
and looked after Albert on the night our
second child was born earlier this year.
KATIE, HARRIET & SARAH
8

ADELE AND BERNIE
We outgrew our beautiful but small
Italian hand press for pressing the
grapes and needed one urgently for
vintage (the word used for the time
of year winemakers make wine). Our
neighbours Adele and Bernie had their
own larger, more professional, basket
press as they used to run a winery at
their place. Without batting an eyelid
they dropped it round, and just like
that we were able to press the grapes
we needed.
STUART B AND SARAH A
Stuart and Sarah (pictured left with
Harriet). Ahh, thank GOODNESS for these
two. These guys work with us, in a
part-time permanent capacity but before
they did, they were customers who met
us separately with their partners at
the cellar door. But they kept coming
back. And then we convinced them to
come back permanently and work here!
There’s nothing they don’t help out
with on the farm, and we love them.
CAROLINA AND JESS
As part of our microenterprise
vision we have
here at Zig Zag Rd, (a
vision to share this farm
and resources within our
community), Jess and Carolina
are cultivating an acre
of land and using it to
grow incredible heirloom
vegetables and beautiful
flowers. Not only does this
nourish our community (and
us), but we’re discovering
some incredible native bees,
interesting butterflies and
juicy worms in the soil
around the market garden.
9

THE RHYTHMS
OF ZIG ZAG RD.
JULY
It’s cold up here, with incredible frosts
painting the landscape in bright white on
those crispy blue sky mornings. The vines
have shed every last leaf, which degrade back
into the soil.
The first of 7,000 vines is pruned: it.starts
by looking like a bedraggled medusa, with a
complex set of canes flowing every which way,
and we find the strongest and best positioned
to provide the fruit for next season. We’re
daunted by the task ahead.
We pick nettles and hang them to dry. They
act as a natural fungicide in the coming
spring, and are rich in iron and other
nutrition. Food for the microorganisms.
We’ll sometimes ‘rip’ the vineyard at this
time, before the winter rain comes. Using
a no-till yeomans plough, we create a deep
rip into the soil without turning it over
to allow water infiltration.. All part of
natural, regenerative farming.
AUGUST
The season of water. The winter rains
(hopefully) come, and the dams, aquifers,
creeks and rivers fill to brimming. The
once trickling Back Creek becomes a gushing,
flowing, impenetrable water flow with rapids
and torrents. We see frog-spawn frothing
in the stiller parts of the flows, and the
cacophony of frog species grows and grows.
The dams at Zig Zag Road are filling, and
our tanks overflowing. It brings us joy, and
we bask in two showers a day. The tap water
tastes clean, fresh and cold.
We lie in until 8am, and watch movies at
night. The fire is roaring constantly.
If we’re adding a fungal dominated compost,
we’ll do it now as the earth wakes up.
We’ll also be making our own compost for our
veggies and gardens.
SEPTEMBER
Spring springs. Late August and early
September is a happy change. The blossom
of some of our orchard bursts, and the
bright pinks and reds make for a stark and
stunning contrast to the dormant trees. It’s
an indication of change, of life, and the
ensuing abundance that fills us up in the
next few months.
The sheep are lambing, and beautiful goslings
and baby drakes waddle around. Wild flowers
appear in the vineyard, as well as cape
dandelion and a diversity of perennial and
annual grasses.
The ‘Pobblebonk’ frog springs into action and they call
each other across dams with their ‘bonk’.
Pruning continues in earnest and the relaxed rhythm turns
into a race against time: if the season is early, we’re
caught out with buds that have burst before they’ve been
pruned.
Something usually gets bogged in September. The forklift,
a car, the tractor. Days can be spent shovelling it out.
OCTOBER
The Ekiem is in flower with brilliant purple and white
colours. The thrushes are back and move into the hollow
of the tree next to the house. Birdsong is abundant and
beautiful, and the bees are busy.
The buds burst and the season officially begins.
Little strips of green in neat lines paint the vineyard
landscape.
And the first sprays of the season of nettle and whey to
stimulate the microbiology and protect the new shoots.
NOVEMBER
The first of the hot days, reminding us how different the
stark, dry summer can be from the abundance that has just
been. It’s a critical growing time for the vines, as they
transform the sun’s energy into sugars.
The vines are flowering: one of the most crucial points
of the season. The shoots make great progress, and the
vineyard quickly turns to a mass of green foliage.
Wildlife is still abundant, and our resident koala moves
in for the next month or so, grunting day and night to
woo the ladies.
We’re shoot thinning: a way of taking out the unproductive
shoots (or even the productive ones), to allow air flow
through the canopy. And we’re spraying organic additions
with the aim of feeding and stimulating the fungi and
microorganisms, to help them work with the vines, share
nutrients and build resistance.
DECEMBER
The landscape is starting to parch, and the grasses
turning yellow. The dry grown vines are now starting to
rely on the earlier winter rain. It’s getting hot, and
the cockatoos screeching are starting to replace the
delicate spring birdsong.
The reactive nature of the season continues, and the
disease pressure grows.
JANUARY
Hot and dry. The canes on the vines are long and full
of foliage, with well formed berry sets, which are hard
and green. It’s a time of sunshine and we’re effectively
farming sunlight.
10

The vines will be sharing their captured sugars with the
fungi under the ground, and in exchange the fungi will be
giving minerals and nutrition back to the plant.
This is a particularly important process in the way we’re
farming: we don’t use synthetic fertilisers, and instead rely
on the biology below ground to support the plants growth and
wellbeing. Rather than using chemicals, we spray food for the
fungi and microorganisms: molasses; fish kelp; whey; nettle;
humates; citrus by products and compost, amongst other
things.
We’re going through the vineyard and pushing up the canes
into the foliage wires to allow the dappled sunlight to hit
the berries, and to make sure our organic sprays get good
coverage over the foliage.
It’s a time friends come to stay and help out with the work.
Hard days out in the vines, with beautiful evenings watching
the sunset over the vineyard, with a glass of wine.
It’s thriving and colourful.
APRIL
It’s a very beautiful time at the vineyard,
with the foliage on the ornamental vine
around the cellar door in its full red glory.
This is the time when we’ll plant a cover
crop in the mid rows, as part of our
regenerative practice.
We’ll bring in the sheep (and in the future
ducks and geese), and intensively graze them
in accordance with regenerative practises -
using cells to move them through the vineyard
like herd animals. They’ll gobble up the
grasses and weeds, trample down the organic
matter so it touches the soil, and poop out
natural fertiliser for the bugs and microbes.
Wine making continues. The wines will be
going through their process of fermentation,
and we’re constantly tasting and analysing.
FEBRUARY
Hot and dry. Similar processes as January, but now the
berries are going through veraison (green, hard and sour, to
purple, soft and sweet) and the birds will be circling
It’s a time of nets!! This is a big, fun, job. Before the
berries turn purple, we haul huge nets over the rows of
vines. We clip up the holes and put out the bird scarer. We
sit with our breakfast every morning, peering at the crows,
galahs, cockatoos, silver eyes, and other birds working out
how to pilfer our livelihood.
We’re constantly walking the vineyard to check ripeness of
the grapes, estimating the harvest, and pulling back down the
nets that have blown over in the summer winds (including huge
willy willy’s).
We can feel harvest around the corner. Preparations afoot.
The winery is being reorganised, putting the bottled wine
into cool storage, and making space for the equipment we
need.
MAY
The Macedon Ranges is in one of its most
beautiful seasons, with the leaves turned
and falling, and often still, warm days and
chilli nights. We’ll start looking at the
fireplace.
We’re finishing off the wine making, and
starting the process of cleaning up after
the season. Nets in, winery cleaned, fences
and foliage wires fixed. We’re tasting and
drinking the wine, topping up barrels, and
starting to plan for the bottling of the
white wines.
Wood will be chopped from the paddocks, and
red gum brought in.
The pace is starting to slow a little, and
hikes, coffees, and friendships abound.
MARCH
The waiting game. We need sunshine and not much rain, to
ripen the berries. They’re all red now and the sugars,
flavours and tannins are developing.
It’s at this time of year when the birds are at fever pitch,
desperate to eat the juicy berries.
JUNE
The wine is made, and the temperature is
falling. The vineyard is resting.
And so are we.
Vintage starts. We’re constantly analysing the grapes to
check for ripeness: how do they taste (generally, if they
taste good, the wine will be good)? What is their sugar
content? (measured in brix or baume)? What is their acid
content (measured with a ph reader)?
Lots of heaving, and forklifts, and early mornings. Stress
and joy. Equipment breaking and quick solutions found. Every
wrong step can ruin the whole year’s work, and a lot is at
stake.
The ferments start naturally, which means there’s a nail
biting 3 or 4 days waiting for the indigenous yeasts to start
their work. If it takes longer, the grapes can spoil.
Our hands (and sometimes feet) are bright red, no matter how
much we wash. The energy is frenetic, but it’s a rich, alive
time. We sometimes take the nets off late at night, when the
birds are asleep, under the bright moon and a billion stars.
The beauty can slap you to tears.
11

AN INVITATION
TO WINE FOLK
If you like the sound of our wines, or want to get in on them
before they go as we are so small-scale, we’d love you to
become a Wine Folk Member
zigzagwines.com.au/winefolk
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