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Longview are one of the most highly awarded wineries in Adelaide Hills, inducted into the South Australia Tourism Hall of Fame for their stately homesteads and the sublime excellence of their vintages. A place of pristine viticulture and breathtaking beauty, where native gums flourish with wild abandon amongst the closely husbanded plantings. It's all captured within the fruit of the wines themselves, the purity of varietal expression, the elegance of tannins and seamless textures, Longview are all about encouraging the grace of a truly resplendent harvest, to retain its eloquence from vineyard to bottling... Natives amongst the vines»
William James Maxwell was an architectural sculptor who migrated from Scotland to Australia in 1875. He built a mock castle and established a family vineyard just outside Adelaide, which he named Woodlands Park. His son planted vines in nearby McLaren Vale and his grandson served a term as winemaker for Hardy Wines at the historic Tintara wineworks. William Maxwell's progeny remain in McLaren Vale, producing the southern hemisphere's most successful brands of Honey Mead, as well as vintages of the most extraordinary value in McLaren Vale Shiraz. But what does Maxwell taste like? Gentleman James Halliday describes Maxwell as robust, picking the eyes out of McLaren Vale shiraz; licorice, dark chocolate, savoury firm, ripe tannins, blackberry, positive oak the.. Made of mature vine mclaren vale »
Boutique winemaking affords great advantages, every vine can be uniquely husbanded, quality control is maximised, each barrel can be individually sampled and assembled into the perfect cuvee. Engineering types are innately suited to such viticulture. Colin Best embarked upon his sabbatical to the great vineyards of Burgundy's Cote d'Or. He returned to plant Pinot Noir on a craggy half hectare near Lobethal in the Adelaide Hills. An ancient masonry wool mill was outfitted for winemaking and Leabrook Estate was born. This is an aesthetic range of meticulously crafted, limited vintages, fashioned for the aficianado of bespoke, small batch, little vineyard wines... The lobethal libations of leabrook»

Bests Great Western Hamill Shiraz CONFIRM VINTAGE

Shiraz Great Western Victoria
Available in cartons of six
Case of 6
$347.50
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Bests
Three superior old vineyard sites - the secret behind Bests Wines

Best's Victorian enterprise comprises three sister vineyards: The Grand Matriarch and headquarters, Concongella at Great Western, St Andrew's at Lake Boga and the baby Salvation Hills at Rhymney Reef. Each vineyard produces distinctly different grape characteristics from vines aged from five to 135 years. Together they add fascinating facets, contrasts and diversity to Bests stable of wine. Twenty-one hectare Concongella, enjoys a cool temperate climate.

Bests

The newest, 22-hectare Salvation Hills also in the Great Western region is slightly cooler while the third, 28- hectare St. Andrews, lies 237 km further north near Lake Boga in the Swan Hill region and has a warm, temperate climate.

Bests Concongella Vineyard at Great Western was established in 1866. The 'Concongella' estate takes its name from the picturesque Concongella creek that lazily meanders beside the vineyard. Meanwhile the premier wine-growing region of Great Western ("one of the best in the country" notes wine writer Hugh Johnson) takes its name from the nearby old gold mining village of Great Western, some 240km west of the City of Melbourne.

Unique factors of soil and climate contribute to Best's success. The land along the creek is flat with a powdery, limey loam overlaying a deep clay sub-soil while newer plantings are cited on a frost-free gravel hill. Climatically cold to very cold winters, and frequently dry and cool summers, with occasional bursts of hot weather, are the norm.

Bests

Viv Thomson believes a little stress concentrates grape flavour, at Concongella it happens naturally. Despite these natural adversities, Concongella consistently produces high quality grapes of intense flavour. The vineyard is a blend of old and new plantings, Shiraz, Pinot Meunier, Dolcetto and Rhine Riesling being among the former and Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the latter.

Best's St Andrew's Vineyard at Lake Boga was established in 1930. The more stable and reliable weather conditions at St. Andrews complements the more rigorous and diverse climatic Concongella conditions. The limestone soils of St. Andrews, together with the warm, dry climate produce smooth, fresh soft wines with above average fruit flavours which Bests often enhance with touches of quality oak.

With the sale of St. Andrews in 1928, the pot-still was moved to Concongella and later to the new St. Andrews. Today, the original still adorns the wall of the St. Andrews tasting room, with a new pot-still now inuse. The production of grape fortifying spirit and fortified wines has played an important role in Thomson enterprises.

However, with the decline of interest in fortified wines and the Governments increased excise on brandy, sales have decreased steadily since the 1970s. St. Andrews gives today's generations of Thomsons a strong hand, contrasting nicely with Concongella. The combination of a warm, temperate climate and tough limestone soils, produce grapes with good fruit flavours.

Bests