Airline pilots make surprisingly good wine. Their appreciation of the sciences, a respect for the weather and a bird's eye view of the land, all invaluable to the winemaker's art. John Ellis would take every opportune weekend away from his regular New York Paris route, to pursue a passion for viticulture. He planted the first commercial Cabernet Merlot vines in the Hamptons and found time between trans atlantic flights to work vintages amongst the Grand Cru vineyards of La Bourgogne. Ellis ultimately made the great lifelong sea change in favour of our land downunder. He settled on a farmstead outside Leongatha, amongst the slow ripening pastures of Gippsland and established a vineyard called Bellvale. It is now a place of fully mature vines and old world Burgundian..
Placing pinot amongst the pastures»
The story of Langmeil begins with early Barossa settlement, planted to Shiraz by Christian Auricht in the 1840s, the estate vineyards were restored by the Lindner and Bitter families during the 1990s. Some of Herr Auricht's original plantings are still in production, three and a half priceless acres of gnarled, dry grown vines which provided the cuttings for much of Langmeil's refurbished heirloom parcels. A princely range of old, to very old single vineyard wines, delineated by the eloquence of each unique site, defined by the provenance of history and pioneer folklore. Saved from the ravages of time by the hand of providence and generations of dedicated Barossa growers...
The legacy landscapes of langmeil»
On the palate are pronounced red berry fruits, mineral and earth, leather, sap and a touch of spicy oak. The inaugural vintage at Picardy produced a single Pinot Noir... More»
The palate is mouth filling with rich satsuma plums and blackberry fruits, dark chocolate and aniseed. From time to time, Wirra Wirra produces wines from very small parcels of extremely intense, high quality fruit... More»
The palate is powerful, complex and chewy, a length of fine tannin in support of rich sweet fruit, balanced by perfect acidity and drying chocolate tannins. Over many years, Rob Gibson (ex Penfolds and Peter Lehmann as chief viticulturalist) has crafted meagre amounts of the most... More»
The highlight is a purity of fine chardonnay fruit flavours, Picardy appeals as the quality of West Australian fruit shines within a fine Chablis styling. Picardy is a traditional Burgundian style of Chardonnay with impressive aromatics and profound fruit character... More»
The palate dominated by a citrus backbone and fleshed out with the texture of oak barrel ferments and malolactic. Three quarters Semillon, the balance in Sauvignon Blanc, from fruit selectively hand picked and sorted off dry grown estate vines... More»
A multi layered palate of wild piquant raspberries, red licorice wick and frais de bois, dark anise tannins and sasafras oak in support of the textural, weight of fruit. Dan Buckle and Aaron Drummond are Mornington born and bred... More»
Constructed during early settlement by a supervisor of colonial convicts, at the very epicentre of the market gardens which serviced Hobart, Clarence House is a heritage listed manor which remains largely unaltered since the 1830s. It passed through several hands before being acquired by the Kilpatricks in 1993, who answered the call of Bacchus and established the grounds to vine. There are now sixteen hectares of viticulture, several significant Burgundy clones of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, with smaller plantings of Sauvignon and Pinot Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet and Tempranillo. What's most unique about the Clarence House vineyards are the soils and topography, a number of northeast slopes which catch the early sun yet shade the vines from afternoon heat. A natural endowment of rich Jurassic soils which impart wonderful..
Heirlooms of a hobart homestead»
Jane Mitchell is one of Clare Valley's leading wine industry identities, Clare Valley Legend and Clare Valley Winemakers Hall of Fame, Centenary Federation of Australia Medal, SA Tourism Commission, Australian Regional Winemakers Forum, Wine Federation of Australia Council and Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Board. Mitchell's largest vineyard is at Watervale, a very bleak place in the middle of winter at pruning time. It is known by the vineyard workers as Alcatraz, a place to do penance in the cold, wind and rain of a Clare Valley winter. Alcatraz only ever yields minimal harvests, source of the most memorable vintages in our nation's..
These old clare valley vines are just getting better»