• Delivery
Wine clubWine clubWine clubWine club
  • Gift registry
  • Wishlist
  • FAQs
Right next to the Merry Widow Inn at Glenrowan, infamous of Kelly gang folklore, Richard Bailey set up shop to service prospectors during the great Victorian gold rush of the 1860s. Rows of newly planted Shiraz soon followed and the Baileys released their first vintage in 1870. The region was ultimately infected by the terrible vine killing plague of the 1890s, a guarded blessing for Glenrowan, which elevated the quarantine status of its vitiated vineyards to a marque of the highest provenance. Baileys endure as one of the new world's most arcane and mythical wineworks, a small estate of historically significant parcels, producing limited vintages, defined by their exceptional value, purity of parentage and wondrous regional.. The bushranger's brew»
An ongoing resurrection of some fabulous old vines, a distinguished Blewitt Springs site and a range of the most spectacular McLaren Vale wines. When Kelly and Bondar acquired Rayner Vineyard in 2013, they knew that everything depended on the management of site and soil to achieve the excellence of wine they had in mind. The most fastidious husbanding regimens and a tightly scheduled evolution towards organic viticulture, the propitious Rayner vines have never yielded finer harvests, all translating into a tour de force across the entire Bondar range. Salient quality and penurious pricing make for a compelling mix. Old vines grown to salubrious soils, the harvest timed to perfection, a precision picking of fruit at just the right hour of day, aimed at capturing and bottling the exquisite expression of place. Bondar's graceful Grenache releases are brimming with bright.. Model mclaren macerations»

Wilson Vineyard Wilson DJW Riesling CONFIRM VINTAGE

Riesling Clare South Australia
Daniel James Wilson would write DJW rules on school book covers, desks, garden edgings and wet concrete whenever the opportunity arose. In 1997 DJW established a small 5½ acre plot of Riesling in the highest and most fertile corner of the family property. From inaugural vintage it became apparent that the fruit from DJW block was quite different. The hand picked harvest from this supreme site was kept separate and DJW Riesling went on to claim a string of prestigious trophies.
Available by the dozen
Case of 12
$263.00
The larger vines of DJW block yield bigger bunches and berries than its siblings at Polish Hill River, distinctive grapes with a vibrant juicy fruit chewing gum character and bright citrus flavours. The grapes from DJW Vineyard are predominately hand picked and chilled, passed as whole bunches through the 30 year old Diemme press press and treated to a long cool fermentation. A synthetic fining agent known as Polyclar and course of filtration are employed to finish the wine crystal clear. Residual sugar levels are carefully controlled favouring a slightly higher level in the DJW Riesling to complement the bigger fruit typically found in DJW wine.
Pale gold colour. Aromas of citrus lemon tart and grapefruit with garden herbs. Lively upfront lemon zest with a slatey minerality not normally seen from this vineyard. Unmistakable Polish Hill River power on the palate, this vintage will be one for the long haul. There's enough mouthfeel to balance the sharpness of the acidity, great balance and structure, a slight weightyness, the dry finish hangs and hangs.
Wilson Vineyard
1 - 7 of 7
1
1 - 7 of 7
1
Wilson Vineyard
The Wilson Vineyard is a small family winery in the Polish Hill River sub-region of South Australia's Clare Valley

In 1973, John Wilson set out with soil map and sampling auger in search for the plot for his vines. The chosen land was some of the grazing slopes east of Sevenhill. The locals were bemused by this venture and were firm but kind with their advice about the unsuitability of the area for grapes. To that same handful of locals the little valley was known as Polish Hill River, a quaint tribute to its early pioneers. In 1980 the vineyard produced its first commercial wine and with that Shiraz-Cabernet, wine consumers were introduced to this hitherto unknown corner of Clare. By then no-one had any doubts about the ability of Polish Hill River to produce fine wine. The Wilson family has been content to expand its operation slowly and steadily and is unfussed that most who followed them now cultivate larger tracts.

Wilson Vineyard

The winery only processes estate-grown fruit. More than half of the production is Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon, both of which are produced under the Gallery Series label, which features a different artist each year. Other wines include a Zinfandel, a fortified Traminer, Chardonnay, and Shiraz. Hippocrene is a distinctive sparkling red wine produced since 1990.

The Clare Valley whilst being a catchy marketing term, is in fact incorrect. There is no single valley, while there is a plateau corrugated by ridges that generally run in a north-south direction. The central feature of this plateau is Mount Horrocks (600 m). South of Mount Horrocks there are three valleys: the Wakefield River, Eyre Creek, and the Skillogalee Creek, that join and flow west to Port Wakefield.

Flowing north are the valleys of the Hill River and the Hutt River, that ultimately flow into the Broughton and meet the sea at Port Davis (between Port Broughton and Port Pirie). Polish Hill River is located on the upper reaches of the Hill River. The soil at Polish Hill River is an acidic red-brown clayey-loam. In contrast to the Watervale sub-region to the south of Mount Horrocks, there is no limestone at Polish Hill River. Geologically the region is of ancient shale and an extension of the famous Mintaro slate. (The slate quarry at nearby Mintaro remains the only site in Australia where it is possible to obtain a sheet of slate large enough for a full-size billiard table)

Wilson Vineyard

In the extreme north-west corner of the vineyard, and on the highest part of the property is a small 2 hectare planting of young riesling vines, that is known as the DJW block, so called because Daniel James Wilson planted the patch. In 2001 it yielded its first economic crop, and it was Daniel's choice that the wine should be kept separate from the rest of the Riesling production and produced as an individual vineyard bottling.

Daniel James Wilson's faith was justified, when in June 2002 the 2001 DJW Riesling was awarded the trophy for the best boutique riesling in the Boutique Wine Awards. That 2001 DJW Riesling also won a gold medal in the 2002 Clare Valley Wine Show category for non-commercial riesling. The 2003 vintage has continued the winning streak, and in the 2003 Clare Valley Wine Show was awarded the Mick Knappstein Trophy for the best commercial riesling (current vintage), and the Jim Barry Perpetual Trophy for the best wine of the show. In August 2004 this wine was awarded the top honour for riesling in the Tri-Nation awards, held in Sydney. This award judges the best wines submitted from South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. The Wilson Vineyard Rieslings are powerful wines that take more than five years in the bottle to show their best, and have consistently shown themselves to be amongst the nation's best.

The Wilson Vineyard doesn't claim to have the best scenic outlook of the Clare wineries, but puts its hand up for second place. Wine tasting and sales are conducted in a stone-faced underground cellar that was constructed in 1988. This, and other associated winery buildings have used stone sourced on the property. There have been extensive plantings of trees, both native and exotic types around the cellar. For a touch of eccentricity, the sales area is decorated with pieces of railway memorabilia.

Wilson Vineyard