• Delivery
Wine clubWine clubWine clubWine club
  • Gift registry
  • Wishlist
  • FAQs
Three British Army officers, in their capacity as agents of the East India Company, established one of Western Australia's first agricultural enterprises in 1836. Named after Captain Richmond Houghton, it was not until Thomas Yule's stewardship that vines were planted and the first vintage of Houghton wine flowed in 1859. Thomas Yule now sources fruit from the eminent Justin Vineyard in Frankland River, a dark ruby Shiraz of lifted liquorice and intense brambleberry, seasoned by piquant pepper notes and supported by showroom tannins. The very elite of Frankland River Shiraz... Artisanal wines of distinguished sites»
Somewhere near the Seaview end of McLaren Vale's Chapel Hill Road, a perfunctory passerine perched her pincers astride a pair of power poles and saw herself alit. Down she went amongst the dry grown branches of an old Grenache vineyard, setting the valuable veterans ablaze. The scorched site eventually came to the attention of a winemaking trio, the Messrs Leske, Tynan & Cooke, Masters of Wine and a venerable vintner, all driven by a consuming passion to make greater Grenache. Thistledown vintage very small amounts of the most extraordinary Grenache. Beautifully detailed and conspicuously elegant, their floral bouquets and graceful finish emulate the aromatic.. Polly & the pyre to paradise»
Long Standing Members of the elite Grange Growers Club, Kalleske's are one of Barossa's leading Shiraz growers, providing fruit from the most memorable vintages to Penfolds for decades. After five generations, Kalleske have begun to reserve the pick of crop for their own label, a highly limited luxury range destined for the most discerning connoisseurs and Shiraz enthusiasts in the know. Kalleske have collated parcels from distinguished vineyards in the ancient hamlets of Moppa and Greenock, Belvedere and Stonewell, Seppeltsfield, Koonunga and Ebenezer, superior old sites which have been husbanded by the same families for generations. Open top ferments, basket.. Superior value in old village barossa shiraz»
Just three kilometres from Young along Murringo Road, planted to a brisk 500 metres above sea level, Grove Estate was originally sown to vines in 1886, by Croatian settlers who brought cuttings from their farms on the Dalmatian coast. Some of these ancient plantings, emigrated at a time when much of Europe was ruled by Hapsburg emperors, remain productive to this day. Newer blocks were gradually established around these priceless parcels, ostensibly with a view to supplying leading national brands. The quality of fruit became so conspicuous that Grove Estate sanctioned industry celebrities from Ravensworth and Clonakilla to begin bottling under their own.. Quiet consummations of grove estate»

Curly Flat Macedon Chardonnay 2015 CONFIRM 2015 VINTAGE

Chardonnay Macedon Victoria
This is the way it's done on Les grands vignobles de France, whole bunches, extravagant new oak ferments and an extended term of age. Quality of fruit however remains cardinal, terroir and the surrounding elements play the main role, a fortuitous confluence of the Macedon Ranges auspicious soils and propitious climes. Elegant, powerful, a golden delicious Burgundesque style, with the structure to expand and evolve, its vivid muscularity defines Curly Flat as the Chardonnay to match veal escalopes or succulent crackling pork.
The central focus of the entire Curly Flat operation is the vineyard. Philosophy is based on the belief that good and great wine are primarily a product of the vineyard, the site, the soil and how the viticulturalist manages all components of the vineyard. Viticultural practices and all decisions on variety, clones, rootstocks, trellis systems combine to produce the finest of wine grapes. An assemblage of Chardonnay clones P58 and I10V1, I10V3 and I10V5, fruit is all hand picked and whole bunch pressed into a luxuriously high proportion of new French oak for a fortnight of vinification. Half the wine is treated to a course of malolactic, followed by eighteen months maturation on fine sedimentery yeast lees. Alcohol 13.2%
Rich straw hues. Heady nose of preserved lemon and cut lime, nectarine, apricots and peach, savoury notes of sea spray and struck match, hazelnuts, nougat and spiced. Generous and complex, textural, lime citrus over a creamy palate, stone fruits and fleshyness, a wine of powerful length, vinous, luxurious and long.
$40 To $49 White All Regions
1 - 12 of 158
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 next»
1 - 12 of 158
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 next»
Curly Flat
Phillip Moraghan was so captivated by the wines of France and Switzerland, so enthralled by Burgundy and its Pinot Noir, that he was inspired to establish Curly Flat Vineyard

Fortunately for Moraghan, his partner Jeni shared the vision that has brought together the dedicated team to nuture Curly Flat from a romantic ideal to awesome reality. Pursuit of the dream and a cool climate suited to Pinot Noir, brought Phillip and Jeni to Lancefield in the Macedon Ranges near Melbourne. The high altitude region is ideally suited to wine growing, with well drained volcanic soils and moderate rainfall. Curly Flat is located on a slope that catches the very last rays of sunshine in the magical moments before dusk. This prolonged exposure to the Autumn sun provides a vital ingredient for the very special fruit that is produced at Curly Flat. To build expertise Jeni and Phillip volunteered their labour in other vineyards and wineries - but it was Macedon Ranges pioneer, Laurie Williams (Flynn & Williams label), who nurtured their understanding and passion for growing wine.

Curly Flat

Phillip began studying viticulture and travelling overseas to gain experience in wine growing and making, he has done several vintages in the USA, including Ponzi Vineyards in Willamette Valley Oregon and Russell Hearn's Premium Wine Group on Long Island NY. The first vines were planted at Curly Flat in 1991 and progressively added to, principally Pinot Noir with some Chardonnay and a little Pinot Gris. A new winery was constructed and the original homestead, built in 1890s, has been extensively renovated to host wine tastings and other wine related events. Prior to the 2002 vintage the wines were made at a neighbouring winery under contract, with equipment and labour input from the Curly Flat Team. In 2002 Phillip took over the winemaking role, under the guidance of one of Australia's leading winemakers who is a renowned Pinot Noir specialist.

The central focus of the entire Curly Flat operation is the vineyard. Philosophy is based on the belief that good and great wine is primarily a product of the vineyard, the site, the soil and how the viticulturalist manages all components of the vineyard. Annual and long term management practices and all decisions on variety, clones, rootstocks, trellis systems combine to produce the finest of wine grapes.

The choice of trellis systems sets Curly Flat apart from most vineyards. Divided trellis systems, particularly the Lyre, are more costly to construct and manage, thus rarely used. Only manual harvest is possible thereby greatly reducing its attraction to larger more commercial wine concerns. The vine canopy has two curtains of foliage, allowing sunshine inside the trellis walls to maximise exposure to sunlight, facilitating better ripening, improved wine colour, increased intensity of flavour and reduced plant disease risks.

Curly Flat

In choice of vines, Curly Flat follows the European approach of selected multiple clones to gain increased complexity. To date Curly Flat has five clones of Pinot Noir and four of Chardonnay. Curly Flat was selected by the Victorian & Murray Valley Vine Improvement Association to be one of only two Victorian mothervine custodians of the most recently introduced Burgundy Pinot Noir clones, 114 and 115.

As in viticulture, education, training and experience are core to having the necessary skills to manage the growing and making of fine wines. Curly Flat vineyard is tended by a dedicated team of full time vineyard staff. Several are studying, or have completed, apprenticeships in Viticulture. The foundation of winery culture is the belief that it is the grapes from the vineyard that are the primary determinant of final wine quality. In essence, good wine comes from good fruit - the better the fruit, the more the winemaker becomes a custodian of nature's handiwork. Thus the winery culture at Curly Flat is one of guidance of the natural ingredients from the vine to wine, with minimal intervention. Nothing integrates the constituent parts of wine as well as Mother Nature. None of the fruit is actually crushed, Pinot Noir is a combination of whole bunch and de-stemmed fruit, while the Chardonnay is all whole bunch pressed. Both practices follow the traditional minimalist approach to these two classic varieties.

Most Australian vineyards are on thin topsoil over undifferentiated clay soils, vines will not grow down into undifferentiated clay, they grow along it. That is not so at Curly Flat. Vines are fortuitously planted to grow their roots in a manner that greatly enhances the health of grapes, intensity of fruit and quality of harvest. Curly Flat abstain from herbicides and chemical additions, choosing instead to employ biodynamic preparations. The vineyard has responded in many ways and it shows in the quality of wine. Native grasses have taken over and the vine floor has come alive, as has the multiplicity of beneficial biodiversity. The team at Curly Flat now have a collective experience of decades within this site. That too is starting to show in the wine quality. Every effort is directed to growing fruit that will convert to very good, sometimes great wine.

Curly Flat