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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»
There were two scrub covered parcels of land, just outside Pokolbin village along McDonalds Road, that local council had long set aside for use as cricket ground and cemetery. Both were ultimately auctioned off to the highest bidders and sown to vine. A third undeveloped site became the subject of a long running feud among the new and old neighbours. Dodgy invoices between the rivals were exchanged and the division of firewood became a further cause of contention. A truce was eventually called by the two protagonists, Brokenwood and Hungerford Hill, for the sake of healthy viticulture. The nascent blocks achieved international renown as the eminent Cricket Pitch and the Langtons Listed Graveyard Vineyard, establishing Brokenwood as one of the most cherished marques in Hunter Valley wine... Sociable soils make for healthy vine»

Leabrook Great Little Neeyo Tempranillo CONFIRM VINTAGE

Tempranillo Clare Valley South Australia
An engaging Tempranillo wine in impressive new world styling, a fashionable fusion of savouryness, freshness and fruit. Gentle handling is the priority, there are no pumps, gravity is employed throughout the process to move grapes and musts. Florals and leather bouquet, violet, olives and bay. Opaque red berries and black cherry fruit, mulberry and five spice run through the long, soft palate, all framed by a veneer of vanillan cedar oak, supported by a flattering length of pliant tannins, exquisitely balanced by the judicious savouryness of a food friendly cherry tang.
Components are treated to a traditional vinification before transfer to a selection of seasoned oaks. Parcels of Tempranillo are painstakingly sorted, any damaged or unripe berries are discarded in the vineyard or during a final cut at the winery. Great care is taken during picking and transportation to ensure that the harvest arrives at the winery in exactly the same condition as existed on the vine.
Leabrook
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Leabrook
Leabrook Estate is a family-owned boutique winery located in the cool climate Adelaide Hills at Lobethal in South Australia

Leabrook Estate specialises in high quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and produces wines from a range of other cool climate varieties including Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The story of Leabrook Estate started in 1978 around bottles of Burgundian wines at dinner parties. The wines had great character and delicacy. This was the beginning of Leabrook estate founder Colin Best's love affair with Burgundy and things Burgundian. These wines had an extra dimension of elegance and intensity.

Leabrook

After a visit to Burgundy, Colin started by leasing a small quarter hectare patch of rocky clay soil in the Adelaide Hills where he planted clones of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay; a hobby block that for several years taught the trials and pitfalls of mildew, weeds and winemaking techniques. The French had close planted for a reason, based on 200 years experience. The resulting wines immediately started to show promise and before long, Colin Best was planning his retirement from engineering to devote his life to viticulture.

Colin approached winemakers already established in the relatively young Adelaide Hills wine region and was overwhelmed with their generosity and assistance. The attitude and friendliness of the Adelaide Hills vignerons contrasted so greatly with the elements of the contract engineering scene, that Colin became a full time vigneron. A historic former woollen mill in Lobethal was ideally suited for winemaking, with thick walls and connections to effluent disposal, within a kilometre of the vineyard, this became Leabrook Estate Winery.

The Leabrook Estate vineyard lies in the Onkaparinga Valley in the Eastern area of the Adelaide Hills. The climate is well suited to most cool climate varieties and ripening is usually reliable, provided the fruit is exposed to light and there is no over cropping. The vineyard lies on a gentle slope with relatively shallow soils. The soil profile consists of clays over dolomite and is reasonably well drained. The vineyard is protected from the prevailing winds causing good fruit set from flowering.

Leabrook

Hedge pruning exposes the fruit to light, necessary to achieve grapes of the highest quality. If the season has been too favourable for the vine, and foliage is excessive, workers are dispatched to the vineyard prior to harvest, plucking leaves from around the bunches to expose the fruit, and cutting away excessive growth. Fruit quality can also be affected by other factors. All Leabrook Estate vineyards are netted to minimise bird damage. A large fan has been installed in the lower lying frost prone area of the vineyard to circulate air on frosty mornings and protect the young growing shoots.

Leabrook Estate's policy is to achieve the best possible quality fruit. Vines are stressed with water levels kept to the minimum, while still providing healthy leaves to aid ripening. Spraying for mildew are kept to the very minimum; pesticide sprays are non existent, relying on natural predators to control pests. Picking time is a very complex affair. Up to 30 small batches of grapes are sampled and tested for taste and physical characteristics from the 2 hectare vineyard, and a picking strategy is developed over several weeks to provide the particular flavour profile designed for Leabrook Estate Wines.

All fruit is hand picked with any damaged or unripe fruit discarded in the vineyard and during a final sorting during the crushing process at the winery. Great care is taken during picking and transportation such that the fruit arrives at the winery in exactly the same condition as existed on the vine. A small group of pickers are employed to ensure a constant flow of fruit from the vineyard to the winery for immediate processing. The same care extends through the winemaking process, when only gentle crushing is performed and there is no rough pumping of must, relying only on gravity to take the grapes into their fermentation stage.

Boutique winemaking has a number of inherent advantages, mainly to do with quality control associated with small quantities. Every barrel can be hand nurtured during the year and crafted into a style based on the same fruit source each year. Techniques can be fine tuned, both in winemaking and possibly more importantly in the vineyard, where the vine's balance can be determined to give the best quality fruit for the particular site.

Leabrook